Adventures of Elsa & Anna
by MantaI-305Apollo'sChariot
Summary: Set a month after the movie, Elsa tests the limits of her powers in a series of adventures with her sister Anna that lead the two sisters to discover the modern world outside Arendelle...and meet Superman.
1. Prologue-Day One

**A/N: Thanks for clicking on my story! **

**Arendelle is still 'itself', but it has been moved to a new location. It becomes obvious where this location is in the first chapter.:) (Just so you aren't thinking 'Hey, that's not where Arendelle is supposed to be!' when it comes up:P)**

**Also, the Frozen characters do meet Superman, but he's not in most of the story. That's why I didn't put this in the crossover section.:) (It's about 90% Frozen characters only:P)**

**P.S. Disclaimer; I don't own any of the characters.:)**

Prologue-Day One

"Elsa? Will you make an ice slide that goes into the fjord?" Anna knocked on her sister's door and barged in as she asked the question.

Elsa, who had been sleeping, took a quick glance at the clock sitting on her nightstand. It was 6 AM in the morning! "Anna, do you know what time it is?! It's 6 in the morning, we haven't had breakfast, and I have to finish looking over those documents today," she said, gesturing sleepily at the pile of official-looking papers on her desk. "Maybe tomorrow?" Elsa suggested. She laughed, then added, "Besides, going on slides into the fjord isn't exactly…"

"…Proper?" Anna finished, looking disappointed for a moment, then brightening. "We're having chocolate-chip pancakes for breakfast!" she added.

"Chocolate-chip pancakes? That sounds good," Elsa replied as she got up and went over to her closet to pull out a dress. She pulled out the ice-blue dress she'd made herself a month before. As she did, a small cardboard box fell out onto the floor.

"What's in that box?" Anna asked.

Elsa frowned for a second, but then shoved the box over to Anna. "_This,_" she said pointedly. Anna opened the box, looking questioningly at Elsa. Inside the box were gloves. Anna quickly replaced the lid and kicked the box under the bed.

"Why on earth are you even keeping those, Elsa?! You don't need them, and I don't EVER want to see you wearing those again!" Anna said firmly.

Elsa, who had slid under the bed to retrieve the offensive box, said from under the bed, "I don't know. Just in case, maybe?" She stood up, box in hand.

"No, no 'just in case' about it! Give me that thing; I'll throw it in the fjord," Anna demanded, grabbing the box from Elsa.

"But what if…"

"Elsa, there is no 'what if'. You can totally control it now!"

There was a pause as Elsa mulled it over. No, she didn't need that box or its contents anymore. It just represented bad memories that could just stay at the bottom of the fjord forever for all she cared. "Well…ok," Elsa said finally.

"Ok is right," Anna replied, tugging her sister out of her room towards the hallway, and a good chocolate-chip pancake breakfast!

"Wait, are you wearing that fancy dress just to breakfast? Not that I don't like it, it's so pretty, but…"

Elsa just giggled as Anna pulled her downstairs to the dining hall. Anna was being Anna, as usual.


	2. Chapter 1-Day Two, Part 1

Chapter 1-Day Two, Part 1

VERY VERY EARLY NEXT MORNING…

It was still dark outside as Elsa tiptoed down the hallway outside her room. She peeked around the corner before starting down the staircase. _Good, no one's awake yet, _she thought happily. _Time to surprise Anna-and everyone else-with that slide!_ A stair creaked under her foot, and she jumped at the sound. _Maybe it'd be quieter to slide down the banister…as long as I don't crash at the bottom like Anna usually does._ Elsa laughed to herself at the thought, and then started to slide down, starting slowly, but picking up speed as she went. _This is fun, but I'm going …TOO …FAST! No wonder Anna crashes at the bottom every time!_ There was the end of the staircase, and she was going too fast to stop. CRASH went Elsa onto the floor. Something clanged down the hall. _Oh no, someone's awake and going to find out the queen just slid down the banister. That was a horrible idea! Quieter than creaking steps, indeed! _Elsa thought to herself. Sure enough, there was Gerda, a long time servant to the royal family, lighting the lamps for the day. Gerda looked toward where the crash had come from. Was that _Queen Elsa_ sitting on the floor? That was how Princess Anna usually came downstairs. "Ah…Queen Elsa, is that you? I didn't expect to see you…come downstairs like that," Gerda said.

Elsa dusted her dress off (_not_ her ice dress-a casual-looking dark blue dress) and stood up. "Good morning, Gerda," she said. "I was…trying to get downstairs without being heard to make a surprise for Anna. A slide into the fjord. I didn't think anyone was awake yet. And just call me Elsa, please."

Gerda just stared. "Without being heard? Flying down the banister?"

"Well, yes. I didn't plan to crash at the bottom…I'm going to go make my surprise for Anna now." Elsa started to leave the room, then turned back to Gerda. "Um, could you please not tell anyone you just saw me fly down the banister?" Gerda smiled and nodded.

At the gate to the palace, she explained to the guard what she was doing. "I'm going to make an ice slide for Anna," Elsa explained, pointing to the fjord. "Of course, anyone else can go on it if they want to," she added.

"Ah, I see," the guard replied, and opened the gate to let Elsa out. "Be careful!" he called after her.

"If I'm not back in ten minutes, send someone after me," she called back with a wave. Down by the fjord, she thought for a moment before waving her hand to make supports for the slide and steps to the top. One more wave made the actual slide portion. She climbed the steps to the top and looked down at her handiwork. The slide was about twenty feet tall and swooped in a curve into the water. _There, _Elsa thought with satisfaction. _Anna should like that._ She began to climb down and head back to the castle. An odd noise seeming to come from somewhere in the fjord caught her attention. "Who's there?" she called into the darkness, putting her hands up in a defensive pose. No answer. _Must have been my imagination_, Elsa thought. Still, she was wary as she returned to the castle. The guard let her back in, and she headed back upstairs. It was still very early and not time for breakfast yet, but too late to bother going back to bed. Elsa decided to read a book until it was time for breakfast.

Two hours later, she and Anna were eating breakfast in the dining hall. "So, about the ice slide into the fjord?" Anna asked excitedly.

"Well, I thought we decided it wasn't _proper_ to do that," Elsa teased.

"Wait, what? No fair! I never decided that! Besides, who cares if it's not so-called proper?" Anna said.

Elsa giggled, but decided to hold Anna in suspense a little longer. "How about we walk down to the fjord after breakfast?" she suggested.

"And THEN you make the slide?!" Anna replied. She gulped her milk and finished the rest of her toast and eggs in two bites. "Ok, I'm done! Can we go now?"

Elsa stared at Anna. "You just finished ALL of that toast…and milk…and eggs…in about five seconds! It's a lucky thing we don't have any foreign dignitaries or something here right now. What would they think?" _And what would foreign dignitaries think if they knew you slid down the banister-and crashed!-this morning?_ she thought to herself. "Oh, never mind, Anna. Let's go." Elsa put her napkin on the table and stood up. "Gerda? Anna and I are going down to the fjord for a little while," Elsa said.

"All right, your majesty," said Gerda.

"I said, please call me Elsa," Elsa replied, smiling.

"Very well, _Elsa_," Gerda said. "Please take a guard with you when you go, though!"

"Does Kristoff count?" Anna asked.

"He's not a guard," Gerda frowned. "I thought he was the official Arendelle ice master and deliverer…But I suppose. Where is he anyway?"

"Probably sleeping in the stable," Elsa commented. "I offered him a guest room in the castle, but he likes sleeping out there for some reason. Anna, wait!" she added as Anna yanked her out of the room.

"I want to go down to the fjord as soon as possible so you can make that slide! I can't wait to ride it!" Anna said excitedly as she and Elsa ran to the stable.

"I never said I was making an ice slide," Elsa responded, hiding a smile. She couldn't wait until Anna saw her surprise!

Anna barged into the stable, pulling Elsa behind her. Sure enough, there was Kristoff, although he was feeding a carrot to his reindeer Sven, not sleeping. "Hi, Kristoff! We're going down to the fjord; will you come along?"

"Sure," Kristoff agreed. The three of them headed toward the fjord. As they approached, Elsa couldn't hide the smile on her face. Just then, Anna stopped walking. There was the ice slide, sparkling in the morning sunlight. "You ALREADY made a slide!" Anna shouted happily. "When did you do it, Elsa?"

"Early this morning," Elsa responded. "Do you like it? Wait…Anna, you're wearing a dress, not a bathing suit…"

Anna pushed off from the top and slid down. "Oh, wow, the slide's COLDCOLDCOLD!" she squealed. "Eek!" she added as she splashed into the warm water of the fjord. She pushed her hair out of her face and treaded water as she sputtered, "You have GOT to try it! That was awesome!"

"Anna, come on out of there. We can come back after you put on a bathing suit instead of a dress," Elsa said, trying to be firm but not succeeding, stifling a giggle.

"Oh, who cares? It's an old dress anyway," Anna replied as she climbed out of the water and started to climb the steps again for another go. "Come on, Elsa. You're not wearing a fancy dress either…I KNOW you want to try it too!"

Elsa considered for a moment, and then started to climb the steps to the top. Anna was right-she _did_ want to try it out, no matter how "un-queenly" it was. _Just once,_ Elsa thought, _and then I go back to the castle and finish up those documents from yesterday. Besides, it's still pretty early…nobody will see me._ She sat down at the top, and pushed off.

"Hey, um, Elsa, you might not want to do that…" Kristoff said. Too late! Elsa went flying down the slide and splashed into the water, just as a medium-sized boat came into view in the harbor. Kristoff could see that it wasn't from Arendelle, although he couldn't make out where it WAS from. In the water, Elsa and Anna swam about splashing each other happily. "What was that you said when I pushed off?" Elsa asked Kristoff as she and Anna climbed out of the fjord.

"Just that you might have wanted to rethink going down the slide," Kristoff said, pointing at the boat.

"Oh," Elsa said. "That was definitely not good. They didn't see me go down the slide…did they?"

"They kinda must have," Anna remarked. "That boat is like, right there, and we're right here."

Elsa squinted, trying to see what flag the boat was flying. "Their flag has red and white stripes…and blue with white…stars, I think?"

"Who flies that flag?" Kristoff wondered to no one in particular. "I sure don't recognize it…"

"Well, I hate to admit it, but neither do I," Elsa said. "I've never seen it before."

Anna replied, "You haven't seen it before?! What if it's just a made-up flag or something?"

"It could belong to the large country to the south of here, across the fjord," Elsa mused. "It's the only possible answer. No other country besides the Southern Isles could make a water journey here. But Arendelle has never had business there, and they haven't asked for an alliance or anything."

The boat came closer into view as the three of them stood and watched. Both Elsa and Anna were still dripping wet, although they had forgotten that for now. The boat stopped at the dock, and a brown-haired man dressed in unfamiliar clothes stepped off. Elsa just stared as the man walked toward her. He was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, quite unlike anything she'd seen before. "Er, pleased to make your acquaintance," the man greeted her. "May I ask the way to the castle? I would like a meeting with the queen."

Behind Elsa, Anna started giggling. Elsa shushed Anna and replied formally, "I am Queen Elsa of Arendelle. Pleased to meet you."

"You are? I did not think that a _queen_ would do such a thing as...go on a slide made of _ice_ right into the water," the man said in a slightly disdainful tone, looking at Elsa's messy hair and wet clothes.

"You'll have to excuse my appearance," Elsa said hurriedly. "My sister, Princess Anna, and I were just…going swimming," she finished lamely.

Anna jumped in, "What my sister means is, I BEGGED and BEGGED for her to come out here and make a slide! Then I fussed at her to try it!" She received an annoyed look from the man and a grateful smile from Elsa for her reply.

"If you'll excuse me, I would be happy to meet with you in an hour," Elsa said.

"Very well," the man agreed. Inside, he thought, _This is the Snow Queen of Arendelle I've heard so much about?_

Elsa thought there was something off about the man, but she couldn't put her finger on it. As she turned to head back to the castle, she grabbed Kristoff's arm and whispered quickly, "I'm not sure what it is, but I don't like that man. Keep a _very_ close eye on Anna, please." _I'm probably being paranoid because of the way he referred to the ice slide_, she thought.

* * *

><p>On the boat, out of sight of anyone on the dock, one of Hans's brothers elbowed him and laughed. "<em>That<em> was the mighty Snow Queen of Arendelle?! She's just a girl…and she'd been _swimming in the fjord_ with her sister! That girl wasn't scared or nervous, either. You sure we came to the right place?"

"Yep, I'm sure. Did you see the slide? Made of ice, wasn't it," Hans replied. His reference to Elsa's ice was not a question; it was a statement.

"Come to think of it, it sure was," his brother replied. "You're saying she _made_ it? You're kidding, right? You were kidding about the whole story you told us a month ago, too, about her freezing the whole place, right?"

"Nope. Wait and see. Where would that much ice come from in the summer? Normal ice would have melted," Hans said. "She can make ice, and she'll do anything for her sister. The kingdom should be in our hands in a couple days at the absolute _latest._ Did she or her sister suspect anything?"

"No. They think that we're a boat from 'that country to the south of here'. I don't think they even know what the United States is," Hans's brother laughed. "Let alone suspect _we're_ here."

Hans crossed his arms, satisfied that everything was going according to plan.

* * *

><p>Back in Arendelle castle, Elsa prepared for her meeting with the man from the boat. She took a quick bath (the fjord water wasn't the cleanest in the world), put on her ice dress, and redid her braid. Elsa's thoughts raced as she headed to the Great Hall for the meeting. <em>I don't know why, but that man looked familiar, and I know I've never seen him before. Why is someone from THERE here? It's been an unspoken thing that neither country does anything with the other. I don't even know the name of the nation…wait, that is a terrible thing for a queen to not even know her kingdom's neighbors! Still, my parents never said anything to Anna or me about it… Not that they would be a particularly good rationale for "saying anything to Anna or me". Like what happened when we were little…<em> As Elsa's thoughts changed from the unexpected visitor to unpleasant memories, snowflakes began falling around her. Elsa noticed the snowflakes and stopped walking. "No! I am _not_ going to lose control again!" she said aloud. The snowflakes disappeared, and Elsa continued to the Great Hall. She sat down on her throne and awaited her guest's arrival. Thinking that she needed to do her best make a good impression after being seen swimming in the fjord, she stood up and swept a hand over her throne, covering it in a layer of crystal-clear sparkling ice.

Ten minutes later, the man arrived. He nearly jumped a mile when he saw Elsa. _She really is the Snow Queen. Hans wasn't kidding,_ the man thought to himself. Sitting on her ice throne wearing her ice dress, Elsa did look rather imposing and regal, very unlike the girl he'd seen an hour before swimming in the fjord. Elsa stood and greeted him. "Welcome to Arendelle. And what brings you here at this time?"

The man bowed and replied, "I wanted to see if you were really this snow queen I keep hearing about."

Defenses instantly on the high alert at this comment, Elsa did not react to his statement. Instead, after a moment, she said, "Well, you have seen me. May I help you with anything else?"

"What's your sister's name? Does she always act crazy like she was doing down at the fjord? And…this _ability_ of yours, to make ice and snow…what can you do exactly?" the man asked.

"My sister's name is Anna. She does not act crazy all the time," Elsa stated. "And as for the ice and snow..." She stamped her foot and the floor was instantly covered with ice. The man slipped but managed to catch himself before falling. Elsa dissolved the ice as she said, "Does that satisfy your curiosity about me?"

The man did not reply. After a moment, Elsa added, "This is not an interrogation room. If you do not have any business to discuss, I declare this meeting to be over." Elsa began to leave the room and asked a servant, Kai, to escort the man out.

Looking at his watch, the man wondered frantically if he had managed to get the queen away from her sister long enough for the other part of his and his brothers' plan to take shape.

* * *

><p>BACK AT THE FJORD…<p>

Right after Elsa had left to return to the castle, Anna tried to convince Kristoff to try out the slide too. "Come on, just one time?"

"I'm supposed to be watching you," Kristoff said. "How am I supposed to do that if I'm going on slides?"

"It takes like five seconds, _tops,_" Anna insisted. "But it's a super awesome five seconds!"

Realizing that Anna wouldn't stop asking until he did it once, Kristoff began to climb the steps to the top. _After all, what can happen in five seconds? Ok, maybe thirty seconds counting climbing up and climbing out. Still…_

Anna turned to see the man from the boat still standing on the dock. "Why don't you try the slide too?"

"No thanks. I don't like slides, especially i-" The man caught himself before saying 'especially ice ones'. That definitely would not endear him to the princess. Changing the subject, he added, "I have something you've never seen before. Want to see it?"

Anna hesitated. There was Kristoff at the top of the slide, not paying any attention to her. She'd be back in a minute. "Ok. What is it?"

"You have to come on the boat to see it. It's too big to move," the man said. _This is going perfectly!_

Anna followed the man onto the boat's deck. "Ok, I don't see anything. Where's the surprise?" she asked.

"In here," the man replied, opening the door to the cabin. "There it is," he said, pointing to a large black screen on the wall.

"You brought me here to see a big flat somewhat-shiny black rectangle," Anna deadpanned.

Holding back a snort of laughter, the man replied, "No, it's a television. Watch this." He pushed a button on the side and turned it on. A TV episode flashed on the screen and Anna jumped in surprise.

"Wait, wha…that…thing…there's PEOPLE in there…come on, What. On. Earth. Is. That. Thing?!" Anna sputtered. She walked over to touch it. Just glass. "How does it work?"

"Beats me. You just push the right button and it turns on," the man told her. "Here, why not have a drink while you watch?" He turned his back to Anna and poured a glass of milk into a mug, then sprinkled something inside.

Anna accepted the mug and took a large gulp. "Thanks," she said. "So, where did you get the television thing?"

"Oh, in Detroit," the man answered. Unable to hold the secret in any longer, he added, "You know, the city right outside the border of the _Southern Isles._"

"Hmm, what was that about the Southern Isles?" Anna said, yawning. "Hey, why am I so sleepy all of a sudden?" Suddenly connecting the dots, she stared at the mug in her hand and threw it across the room as if it contained poison. "You tricked me! I don't care about your dumb old television! _And WHAT DID YOU PUT IN MY DRINK?!_" she shouted.

"No worries, it's just a sleeping powder. Not poison," the man (who Anna assumed correctly was actually one of Hans's brothers) replied nastily.

"You know what? Elsa's…going to…freeze the whole… lot of you…" Anna declared as she fell asleep.

The man left the cabin and locked the door, leaving a sleeping Anna behind him.

"Did she see the TV before she fell asleep, Edolf?" Hans asked his brother the moment he'd locked the door.

"Hans! What are you doing here? Nobody can see you yet! It's not time!" Edolf answered in a rush.

"Aah, who cares? Look there. That guy that was with her thinks she's hiding just to be silly," Hans pointed out a very wet, annoyed, shouting Kristoff, who thought Anna had run off just for a joke. "He'll probably look for her for hours before saying the princess is _missing._"

"True," Edolf laughed. "Now for that meeting with the queen to buy some time before she goes looking for her sister."

* * *

><p>While Edolf had met Queen Elsa, Kristoff was frantically searching for Anna. He thought she had run off as a joke. <em>Elsa trusted me to keep a close eye on Anna! Where could she be?<em> He began to ask people in the marketplace if they had seen the princess. Their replies got him nowhere. But the rumor that Anna was missing spread exponentially. By the time Elsa had dismissed Edolf and he had returned to the boat, someone told the guard at the gate of the castle courtyard that Anna was missing. Figuring that it was most likely just a rumor, the guard wasn't particularly alarmed, but when he saw Gerda watering the plants, he told her to "tell Queen Elsa just in case". As Gerda went to tell Elsa the 'just in case' news, the last person the guard expected to see stood at the gate. There stood Hans with an innocent-looking smile on his face. "I hear Princess Anna is missing?" he asked in mock concern.

"Out, scoundrel!" the guard informed Hans. "You don't care about the princess. Last I heard, you tried to kill her!"

"No, I didn't," Hans protested. _Well, I didn't try to kill her; I just left her to die,_ he thought to himself.

"Look, I don't know what you are trying to stir up, but be gone with you!" the guard told him.

"But I know where Anna is."

"That's _Princess_ Anna to you." The guard paused. Hans knew where Anna was? This could not be good.

"I request a meeting with her majesty, Queen Elsa."


	3. Chapter 2-Day Two, Part 2

Chapter 2-Day Two, Part 2

Elsa sat on her throne for a meeting for the second time that day. In front of her stood Hans. A few minutes before, Gerda had informed her that Anna was suspected to be missing, but that it was most likely nothing to worry about. Still, there was definitely something odd going on. _First, that boat with the mysterious flag shows up. Then Anna disappears, presumably while I'm in a meeting with someone who didn't even have anything to discuss. And now Hans of all people is here requesting a meeting with me. Wait…I'm almost positive that means that boat was from the Southern Isles, flying the other flag to avoid suspicion._ She sat up straight and waited for Hans to say something. Hans bowed and said, "Good morning, Queen Elsa. It is still morning, is it not?"

Elsa resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Yes, it is still morning-it's a little after 11, see?" She gestured to the grandfather clock in the corner. "May I help you with something?" _Anything, anything to get him out of here. He's up to no good, _Elsa thought to herself.

"I know where Princess Anna is."

Elsa stood up to her full height and said, "How do you even know my sister is presumed to be missing?"

Hans began to pace back and forth in front of her. "I have ears," he said. "You should hear all the rumors swirling around the marketplace."

Elsa stood staring at him without expression. After a long silence, he asked "Well, don't you want to know where your sister is?"

Elsa most definitely did want to know where Anna was, but she didn't want to give Hans the satisfaction of giving him the reaction he wanted. Elsa's thoughts flew as she thought of all the horrible possibilities that Hans could have done. Her face didn't betray her thoughts, but the layer of frost creeping up the wall behind her did.

"Still can't control it, huh?" Hans remarked in a mean tone.

Caught by surprise, Elsa jumped. "What?"

"Behind you," Hans smirked.

Elsa turned to see the frost all over the wall. _Argh, I did NOT just do that! _Elsa berated herself for letting that happen in front of someone like Hans. She waved a hand, and the frost disappeared. Elsa took a deep breath and turned back to her unwanted visitor. "What did you do with my sister?" she said in a tone cold enough to freeze the room, no ice or snow needed. A sudden thought popped into her head, _Anna must be on that boat. I told Kristoff to keep an eye on her for me!_

Hans hadn't expected Elsa to get rid of the frost that quickly, or reply in that tone of voice. He replied, "Well, I-I-I think we need to make a deal. I have Anna on my boat. I release her in exchange for you. If you don't agree, well then…" He drew a finger across his throat.

_I knew it! Anna's on the boat! _"You must be crazy if you think I would agree to an idea like that," Elsa informed him. "You think I'm supposed to hand myself over to you so you'll release Anna, or else you'll _kill_ her?! How do I know that after you take me captive, you wouldn't just kill my sister too? You're out of your mind, sir."

"Suit yourself," Hans said, and made as if to leave the Great Hall.

_He's really serious,_ Elsa thought to herself. An idea came to her. _I just need to convince him I'm still that same scared girl with no control he saw a month ago… _"Hans, wait," she said.

Hans turned and smiled. "Changed your mind so soon?"

Elsa sent a good-natured smile in his direction. "Yes. You see, I care so much about Anna, and she's ever so important to me. I'd do anything to protect her. Besides, you were right. I'm not 100% in control of my powers. Maybe it would be best anyway." She felt bad for misleading Hans that way, but it was _mostly_ true-she was in control about 95% of the time; and she couldn't let him kill Anna!

Hans was secretly elated. _I didn't think it would be this easy to convince her! _"What proof do I have from you that you won't just freeze me?"

"Well, I assume you have made provisions for that possibility already," Elsa answered dryly.

"Yes, yes, of course!" Hans replied all in a rush.

_He hasn't made any plans to avoid that at all, _Elsa thought. _Which means he wants to catch me by surprise somehow, like with the chandelier. I must have 360 vision at all times…and he probably doesn't intend to follow through with his part of this "deal". Probably plans to wipe out the both of us and take over. I can't let him suspect that I know his plan…Pull out your acting skills, Elsa!_ Elsa sat down on her throne with a dejected look on her face. "I suppose we can meet for this….this _trade_ of sorts at 4 this afternoon," she said, watching for Hans's reaction.

Hans could barely contain his excitement. "Very well. Come alone." Little did he know that Elsa had completely seen through his plan…all except for one detail she couldn't possibly know. The modern technology on the boat.

Elsa stood and ended the meeting. "Kai, please show this gentleman out," she said. Then she walked slowly out of the room, purposely leaving frosty footprints behind her. _If I didn't convince him before, that should do the trick._ Kai looked confused, but showed Hans out. Then Kai followed Elsa's footprints halfway up the stairs, where they abruptly stopped. Kai looked up to see a smiling Elsa around the bend of the staircase. "Is Hans gone?" Elsa whispered.

"Yes, your majesty," Kai asked, confused. "What on earth was that all about? That dejected look on your face before? And now you're smiling? Leaving frosty footprints? What were you doing?"

"That…that _creep_ kidnapped Anna. He came here to ask me to hand myself in or else he'd kill her. I'm pretty sure this whole thing is a plot to kill the both of us so he can take over, though," Elsa explained.

Kai looked more confused than ever. "And…you actually _agreed_ to go along with this? Besides, he knows what you can do. Why would he even attempt this?"

"It's just a ruse," Elsa answered. "If I go and just try to rescue Anna, he'll kill her before I get a chance to get her out. I know it can't be just him and that other guy I met this morning on that boat; he brought at least a few others. And I think he's banking on the fact that I can't control it and would be too scared to try anything. Or maybe he has some secret weapon. That's the only thing that could mess up my plan."

Kai nodded. "That makes sense. But this is risky, you going over there alone…"

"If all else fails, I'm going to toss Anna overboard. That way, at least she'll be safe. Mad, but safe. She swims like a fish."

"Your failsafe is throwing Anna overboard… and what about you?" Kai replied, incredulous.

"Oh, I think I can defend myself," Elsa said with a smile, letting a snowflake form in her palm. "Remember?"

"But you told Hans you wouldn't," Kai pointed out. "Wait, I believe your words were '_I assume you have made provisions for that possibility already'_."

"Exactly. I hope that's not too misleading…" Elsa frowned. "I let him think I'm not in control at all!"

"I don't think so," Kai assured her. "Besides, I'm quite certain that the frost you made on the wall _wasn't_ an accident."

Elsa blushed at the reminder. "Yes…I was thinking about all the rotten things that could have happened to Anna, and I just lost it for a second there. I did make the footprints on purpose though." She paused for a moment, then added, "I wonder what Anna is doing right now, though."

* * *

><p>What Anna was doing right as Elsa said that was sleeping, but by two in the afternoon, the sleeping powder had worn off and she was downright angry! Once Anna had realized that she was locked in the cabin (after picking at the lock, kicking the door, and throwing the TV's remote through the one window in the room), she settled for chattering nonsense in Pig Latin through the broken window to annoy her captors. Anna knew they weren't going to hurt her, at least not right now, because she had heard Hans and someone named Edolf (one of Hans's brothers, she supposed) saying something about 'meeting at 4' and 'trade the chatterbox for her icy sister'. By 2:30, Hans couldn't put up with Anna's chattering any longer. "CAN'T YOU JUST SHUT UP ALREADY?!"<p>

"Sure-ay. Elease-ray me-hay, then-hay you-hay ill-way ot-nay ave-hay to-hay hear-hay it-hay nymore-ay," she shot back.

"What did she even say?" Hans asked Edolf, thinking Anna couldn't hear him.

"I said, 'Sure-ay. Elease-ray me-hay, then-hay you-hay ill-way ot-nay ave-hay to-hay hear-hay it-hay nymore-ay'," Anna repeated.

"ARGH!" Anna heard Hans say. Then from Edolf, "She's blathering in Pig Latin. Surely you've heard it before."

Anna shouted out the broken window, "On't-day you-hay know-hay Ig-pay Atin-lay, you-hay razy-cay oon-lay?"

Silence. Unintelligible whispering. Then, "Hey, you mean she just called me a crazy loon?!"

As Anna peeked out the window, she saw Edolf writing something on a piece of paper and showing it to Hans. _Probably explaining what Pig Latin is,_ she thought. Satisfied that she had 1)definitely bugged them, and 2)that they'd leave her alone for a while; she decided to explore the other mysterious things in the cabin that she didn't recognize. There was a clear glass bulb with tiny wires in it attached to a brass base sitting on a shelf. Another of the same bulbs was attached to a tall metal pole and circular base in a corner. Investigating further, she realized the glass bulbs screwed off. _Maybe if I switch them, they'll do something?_ she thought. She unscrewed both bulbs and put them back on the opposite bases from which they had come. Nothing. Anna caught her foot on a plastic-covered cord that trailed on the floor. She picked it up and followed it to the end. It was stuck in the wall. Yanking it out, she saw that the end had two metal prongs on it. _There must be a switch on these things somewhere. _Anna plugged the cord back in and followed it back toward the Things. _Aha! There's something!_ She'd found the switch. As she flipped it to 'on', a bright light suddenly turned on. Anna whipped around in surprise, knocking something off the table in the middle of the room. _Oops… _She ran over to the window. Hans and Edolf were still messing with the paper. Anna sighed in relief. She didn't think they wanted her snooping around. Anna walked over to the Thing and hesitantly reached out a finger toward the glass bulb, but jerked back instantly. "It's hot!" She licked her finger to take away the sting and stared at the lamp. _How does it work?_ It didn't work like the kerosene lamps in the castle, obviously. She unplugged the cord from the wall, and then flipped the switch on the cord a few times. _Something runs through the cord to make them work,_ Anna realized. _And these would be a great addition to the castle!_ Anna decided that she would take the smaller lamp with her when Elsa came to rescue her later. She had no doubt Elsa was not going to just trade herself in for Anna. Elsa would find a way to get them both out of this mess.

While Anna was investigating the electric lamp, Edolf was indeed explaining Pig Latin to Hans. After that, though, they went belowdeck to discuss what was going to happen later that afternoon with their other eleven brothers. "She said she wouldn't freeze us and that she wasn't in control," Hans proclaimed proudly. "We're going to win this easily. There are thirteen of us, and only two of them. Without using her powers, they won't stand a chance against us."

Edolf looked dubious. "You sure you understood right? She looked pretty in control when I saw her this morning. She froze the whole floor on purpose, and then made it disappear like it was nothing!"

"Yeah, I'm sure! You should have been there when I told her I had Anna. She made frost all over the wall by accident," Hans replied. In a high-pitched, mocking tone, he added, " 'I care sooo much about Anna! I'd do _anything_ for her! Besides, you're right, I'm not in control anyway. Maybe it would be for the best.' " Hans ended his not-quite-accurate monologue with a dramatic sigh, and Hans's brothers practically fell over with laughter. "Besides, even if she was faking it, we've got our secret weapon."

"What secret weapon?" Edolf asked.

"This." Hans held up a long coil of wire and a cigarette lighter.

"Cigarette lighters and wire. Real threatening," one of Hans's brothers said sarcastically.

"Yep. Arendelle doesn't have modern conveniences like electric lamps and such. They've never seen this stuff before." Turning to Edolf, Hans said, "What was that chatterbox's reaction when you showed her the TV?"

"She practically jumped out of her skin."

"That proves it. They've never seen all the modern technology. What will happen if I lay the wire out on the deck and touch the flame from the lighter to it?" Answering his own question, Hans continued, "It'll burn through the wire like a fuse and set the deck on fire."

"And your point is…?"

"We lay the wire in a circle around the two of them. When the queen gets here, she's sure to make a beeline for her sister. Then each of us touch a flame from a lighter to the wire, and kapoof! We win."

Above them, Anna had heard rustling below her and was listening through a crack in the floor. She could hear every word they said. Once she had heard their plan involving the wire and lighters, she shouted down through the crack, "I CAN HEAR YOU!" Then she began stomping the floor as hard as she could. _How dare they try something like that! And where did they get all these 'modern technology' things?!_

Hans and his brothers jumped in surprise. This was an unexpected complication. Anna was not supposed to hear all their plans. They had to get her asleep again, but how? She certainly wouldn't drink anything; she'd suspect something. Unless…one of them drank it first, then put the powder in it after. That was it. Of course. Hans went and knocked on the door to the cabin. "Hey Anna, are you thirsty?" A resounding 'NO' came from inside. "It's not going to send you off to sleep again. See, I'll try it first." Anna looked out the window she'd broken earlier. She saw Hans take a sip. Nothing happened.

"Well, ok…" Anna took the drink and drifted off to dreamland once again.

* * *

><p>Back at Arendelle castle, Elsa prepared to go meet Hans and rescue Anna. She changed out of her ice dress (that definitely did not play up her I'm-scared-and-not-completely-in-control card) and put on a blue casual dress. Then she reached for the box that had the gloves in it that she kept on the shelf in the closet, before remembering she'd let Anna toss the whole thing into the fjord the day before. <em>First time in my life I actually WANT the things, and they're not there,<em> Elsa thought ruefully. _Oh well. One less thing to worry about once I'm at the 'meeting'._ She began pacing back and forth, thinking. She now suspected that the man she'd met early that morning was one of Hans's brothers. That would explain why he looked slightly familiar. Elsa certainly had not acted scared or out of control when she'd met with him, and she didn't know what he had told Hans. _If he told Hans that I completely iced over the floor then dissolved it all when he asked what I could do… _A knock on her door broke into her thoughts. "Queen Elsa? It's Gerda. I've just brought you something to eat. It's after two o'clock and you haven't had lunch."

"Oh, thank you Gerda. Please come in," Elsa replied. She resumed pacing as Gerda entered.

"Please don't be offended, but I'm worried about you going down there alone," Gerda told her. "You don't know what they've planned, and it's an understatement to say that Hans is not trustworthy."

"I know. But I can't leave Anna with him," Elsa said. She paused as her eyes fell on the cord that tied the curtains back. An idea popped into her head. "Gerda, do you have any rope? I have one very strong suspicion of what they'll try, and I have an idea of what to do."

"Yes, but what do you…" Gerda's eyes grew wide as she realized what Elsa was thinking. "Yes, your majesty. I'll be right back."

"Please call me Elsa!" Elsa called after her.

Gerda came back with the rope a few minutes later. "So what is it you're trying to do exactly?"

Elsa held out her hands for Gerda to tie together. "But make it a bit loose so it'll come off if this doesn't work," Elsa said. Gerda tied the rope in a loose knot as Elsa requested. "Now let's see if this works…" Elsa twisted one hand around and pinched the rope between two fingers and froze it through, making it brittle and snapping it in half. "It works!" she said excitedly. "Now for the next part…" She touched the severed ends of the rope back together and used a thin layer of frost to hold it. Then with one swift jerk, she 'broke' the rope off.

"Very clever," Gerda smiled. "What made you think of it?"

"Hans acted like he had absolutely no way of keeping me from doing anything. But if he managed to do this" she gestured at the now-broken rope on the floor "it wouldn't keep me from doing anything, but it _would_ make it more difficult. I saw the cord for the curtains and it popped into my head."

"I still don't like the idea of you going alone," Gerda fretted.

"I'll be fine. If I'm not back within thirty minutes after I leave, please send someone after me," Elsa replied. She sat down at her desk to eat her late lunch. "Thank you, Gerda."

Gerda turned and left the room, leaving Elsa to eat her lunch.

An hour and a half later, Elsa left the castle on her mission to rescue Anna.


	4. Chapter 3-Day Two, Part 3

**A/N: Thanks for my first review, Animaniacsfan222!:) Sometimes I can't get to the internet, so I can't update every single day. But I will update as often as I can.;)**

**xxxxxx**

**Ok, now we finally get some real action!:) **

Chapter 3-Day Two, Part 3

At exactly 4 PM, Elsa stood on the dock next to Hans's and his brothers' boat. Hans walked out onto the deck; his brothers stayed out of sight for now. "I've come to get my sister," Elsa announced. "Where is she?"

Anna was still asleep, so Hans said "Oh, she's rather indisposed at the moment. Wouldn't you like to come aboard?"

Elsa was worried what Hans had meant by 'indisposed', but she answered instead, "Let's cut the formalities. I want my sister!"

"You have to come aboard first."

Elsa stepped onto the boat, ready and looking for a trap. Sure enough, five of Hans's brothers rushed toward her and did precisely what she and Gerda had practiced earlier. _I knew it! _Since she thought that she might raise suspicion if she caused _no_ ice, she shot a single icicle onto the deck. _After all, I'm not supposed to be 100% in control_, Elsa thought.

Hans stood in front of Elsa with a mean grin on his face. "_Now_ you can see your sister. Go on, Edolf." One of his brothers went to the cabin door to unlock it (Elsa recognized him as the man she'd met that morning), and Hans and the others disappeared belowdeck. The instant Hans and his brothers were out of sight and the one opening the cabin's door turned his back on her, Elsa froze the rope, broke it, and fastened it back together with frost like she'd done earlier. The whole maneuver took less than five seconds.

"Your sister is in here," Hans's brother Edolf said. Thinking that he planned to just lock her and Anna inside, Elsa peeked in the room but did not enter.

"What did you do to her?" Elsa asked. "Why is she…sleeping? My sister would not just fall asleep like that in the middle of the afternoon."

"Sleeping powder. She should wake up in about ten minutes." Edolf picked Anna up and dropped her unceremoniously in front of Elsa.

Now Elsa knew that Hans definitely didn't plan to keep his end of the 'deal'. Anna couldn't leave even if she wanted to, and Hans and his brothers thought that Elsa herself was partly incapacitated. _What am I supposed to do with Anna? She's asleep and will be for ten minutes. That means my failsafe is out. I can't hold Anna and defend us at the same time. And that means I have to stall whatever they're planning for ten minutes as well._ Elsa had never been that great at small talk, and now she needed to do it with one of her worst enemies for ten minutes. _Well, here goes nothing…_ "I saw the black rectangle thing on the wall in there. What is it?"

Edolf was taken aback at Elsa's question. He had expected her to go crazy with worry about Anna or attempt to free herself from the rope, not ask questions about the television. "Um, it's called a television." Edolf could see his brothers getting ready with the wire and lighters. _I've got her distracted,_ he mouthed at them.

Elsa's eagle eyes had caught Edolf mouthing something. "What did you just say? After the television part, I mean." Because the rest of them were behind her, Elsa couldn't see what Hans and the others were doing, though.

"I…I…I said 'I've got another device'," Edolf stuttered.

"Why didn't you just say so instead of mouthing it?" Elsa frowned and turned as she heard a creak behind her. There was Hans glaring at one of his brothers for making the creaking sound. There were two more men she could see, and what on earth was each of them holding? Elsa's eyes met Hans's, and for a split second, no one moved. Then…

"Now!" Hans shouted. He dashed forward and laid the wire in a circle on the deck around Elsa and Anna. A puzzled Elsa just stared. What was Hans going to do with a loop of wire?

A second later, all his brothers came from several directions with flaming…. _somethings_, she wasn't sure what exactly, in their hands. Instantly she knew what they were up to. Springing into action, she 'broke' the rope and shot an ice blast at the deck, freezing one brother's feet to the deck. Elsa had already decided that no matter what, she did _not_ want to kill any of them, just keep them from harming herself and Anna. Elsa shot another blast, partly surrounding her and Anna with tall sharp icicles. Now that they were half safe, she whirled around to face the opposite direction. "Leave my sister and me alone!" she cried, freezing two more people's feet to the deck. Someone shoved Elsa from behind, and she stumbled, twisting her ankle as she fell. "Ow! You can't even fight a fair battle! Only cowards attack from behind!" Elsa shouted. She tried to stand up, but her ankle wouldn't hold her, and she sat back down.

"Well, looks like you're out of ammunition," Hans said as he touched his lighter's flame to the wire.

Elsa thought quickly. She slapped the deck with both hands, sending a sheet of ice spreading rapidly over the whole deck. Anyone who wasn't stuck in place went sprawling head over heels due to the now extremely slippery surface. Realizing that she hadn't managed to extinguish the flaming wire entirely, she made a large ice bubble around the still-sleeping Anna and herself. They were safe. Elsa sighed with relief.

Just then, Anna stirred and woke up. "What's going on? Where am I? Oh, hello Elsa," she said all in a rush. "Wait, Elsa, what's wrong? Did you hurt yourself?" Elsa sat next to her, holding her hurt ankle.

"Oh, Anna, good, you're awake!" Elsa said. She reached over and gave Anna a hug.

"Elsa…where are we? Why are we sitting inside an ice bubble on Hans's stupid boat? And what happened to your ankle?" Anna asked.

"Long story short, Hans tried to kill the two of us and we're in here because we're safe in here. They can't penetrate this bubble even if they try to set it on fire. I planned to just take the both of us back to the castle, but that didn't exactly work out as planned. And my ankle…somebody-Hans, I think-just pushed me and I fell," Elsa explained.

"Yikes! What are we going to do now? Besides stick out our tongues at those creeps, I mean," Anna replied as she made a 'nyah-nyah' face at the angry faces outside their bubble.

"You do know they can hear us out there, Anna?"

"So what? You said they can't get in."

"Well, no, they can't…"

"Then I don't care. They ARE creeps!" Anna leaned over to whisper in Elsa's ear, "If you really want to bug them, talk in Pig Latin. It drives Hans and Edolf crazy! I did it all afternoon till they made me go to sleep again."

Elsa couldn't resist laughing. Leave it to Anna to try something like that!

Anna suddenly grabbed Elsa's arm. She stage whispered, "Who is that?" pointing at a figure dressed in blue with a red cape and an 'S' on the front outside. "He's pushing all the brothers you didn't freeze to the deck into the cabin!"

"What? You have got to be kidding, Anna," Elsa said.

"No, I'm not! Really! Please look!"

Elsa looked to see exactly the scene Anna had described. She jumped and then winced and rubbed her ankle. "Ok, so where did he come from? He's definitely not from Arendelle and he's obviously not in cahoots with Hans."

"I should say not! He just picked up two of his brothers like they weighed nothing and practically tossed them in the cabin and locked the door!" Anna replied.

The mysterious visitor turned and smiled at Elsa and Anna as he heard their banter. "Wait, can he actually _hear_ us, all the way over there?!" Anna asked in surprise.

The man nodded, as if in reply. "I think he can definitely hear us, Anna," Elsa told her sister. "Do you have some kind of superhearing?" Elsa directed her question at the visitor.

The man answered 'yes' and walked over to their bubble. "Wait, let me help get you out," he said and proceeded to punch the bubble. The ice bubble shuddered violently at the impact but did not crack. The man looked confused, as if the bubble should have shattered.

"Sir? I can get rid of the ice bubble myself," Elsa said. "But before I do, could I ask who you are? And how did you get here? I know you do not hail from either Arendelle or the Southern Isles."

"I am a friend. In other places, I am known as Superman. I happened to be flying overhead when I saw the trouble. You are indeed correct; I do not come from either Arendelle or the Southern Isles. But, may I ask, how is it that you can get rid of the ice yourself?"

Satisfied with his answer, Elsa answered by dissolving the bubble with a wave of her hand, just as Anna said "Flying?! How is that possible?"

Their visitor stood staring at the two girls in surprise. _She made that whole bubble disappear!_ "Did you make the ice on the deck, too?"

To Elsa, that sort of question usually meant that someone had just found out about her ability and either didn't like it or was scared of it. This man's tone, however, sounded simply interested in _how_ she did it. "Yes, I made the ice on the deck. I was born able to…oh, where are my manners?" She tried to stand up to shake her guest's hand, but her ankle gave out under her again. Elsa sent a sister-look that said 'help!' in Anna's direction. Luckily, Anna got the message. Anna helped Elsa stand up and let her lean on her so Elsa wouldn't have to put weight on her injured ankle. Elsa shook her guest's hand and said, "Welcome to Arendelle. I am Queen Elsa of Arendelle and this is my sister Princess Anna. I apologize for having to meet under such circumstances."

"No need to apologize," Superman replied. "May I help you with anything else or can you handle it?"

Anna frowned in annoyance. "What do you think? My sister has a hurt ankle, and we don't have any way to get back to the castle."

"Anna, that was rude! He's trying to be nice," Elsa admonished her sister.

"How about I fly you both back to the castle?" Superman suggested.

"That sounds good. Please take Anna first," Elsa replied. "In case Hans and his brothers break out of that cabin."

"But what about you, Elsa? You're the one with the hurt ankle," Anna worried.

"I'm also the one who can make impenetrable ice bubbles. I'll just remake it and sit inside till Superman comes back," Elsa replied. "Come on, Anna, you can leave me for a few minutes."

So Superman took off with Anna and set her down in the castle courtyard a few minutes later. Gerda, who happened to be in the courtyard, screamed when they dropped out of the sky. "Thanks, Superman!" Anna said excitedly. "I think I love flying!" To Gerda she said, "You'll never guess what happened! Elsa made this ice bubble thing and we were sitting in it so we'd be safe from those creeps, and then Superman came and put them all in the cabin…well, except for the ones with their feet stuck to the deck. And…"

"You can tell me inside, Princess Anna," Gerda said, steering Anna inside. "Speaking of Elsa, where is she?"

"Superman's going to bring her," Anna replied. "Did you know how awesome flying is? It's even better than going down the ice slide!"

Gerda sighed. Anna had been kidnapped and rescued, all in the space of a few hours, and all she could talk about was flying.

* * *

><p>While Superman took Anna back to Arendelle castle, Elsa sat safe inside her remade ice bubble. Elsa leaned against the side of her bubble and closed her eyes. She felt tired from all the commotion of the day, and her ankle hurt. A sudden barrage of noise and shouting made her sit up straight in surprise. Hans and his brothers had managed to get out of the cabin and were trying to break the bubble, shouting at her all the while. <em>They must have had another key…oh, they can't get in here, let them shout and bang away,<em> Elsa thought. She ignored them, which annoyed them even more. Ten minutes later, they were all still banging and shouting when Superman landed on the deck. He was surprised to see Elsa sitting inside her bubble, eyes closed with an amused expression on her face. When Hans saw Superman, he immediately retreated belowdeck. Superman rounded up the rest of the brothers once more, put them in the cabin, and took the spare key from Edolf. Then he went over to Elsa's bubble and told her the brothers were all locked in the cabin again. "Well, except for the three stuck to the deck."

Elsa dissolved her bubble. "Thank you, Superman. Shall I unfreeze those three from the deck so you can put them in the cabin as well?"

Superman agreed, and the three were put in the cabin with the others. Then Elsa froze the doorframe and lock shut. "By the way, just to be certain they're all in there, how many did you put in besides those three?" Elsa asked.

Superman used his x-ray vision to see through the walls of the cabin. "Nine. There's twelve in there total."

"Then there's one missing," Elsa said, eyes flitting back and forth across the boat as she looked for the missing brother. "There are thirteen of them altogether."

Superman looked down through the deck to see Hans trying to sneak back up to the deck. "I see him."

"Where? I don't see anyone." Elsa looked puzzled.

"He's trying to sneak back up on deck," Superman told her. "I'll be right back." Superman took off around the side of the cabin and disappeared belowdeck and was back in a few seconds with a petulant Hans. "Would you do the honors?" Superman said, gesturing at the frozen doorframe and lock.

"Of course." Elsa unfroze the doorframe and lock with a flick of her wrist. _I still want to know how he saw THROUGH the floor, though!_

Superman pushed Hans inside the cabin before the other twelve brothers could pile out. Then Elsa refroze the doorframe and lock. Superman scooped Elsa up carefully and got ready to take off. The angry voice of Hans shouted behind them through the broken window of the cabin, "You are such a coward! Are you just going to _leave_ us in here?!"

Elsa asked Superman to set her down next to the window. "I have something I need to say to that guy." Superman set her down and Elsa said firmly, "_You_ are the coward. You tried to kill my sister and me; you attack from behind; and you lie. And yes, I'm going to leave you in there. Goodbye." To Superman Elsa said, "Ok, that's all. We can go now. Thank you."

Superman picked Elsa up again and took off. "You're not scared of heights, are you?"

"I don't know…I don't think so," Elsa answered. When she looked down and saw the panoramic view below them, she added, "Definitely not! Everything looks so…_tiny_ from up here. This is amazing!" Looking off into the distance, she could even see her ice palace she'd made a month before. "I can even see my ice palace from here!"

"Your _what?_"

"My ice palace," Elsa said, pointing.

"It looks like a bit like my own Fortress of Solitude," Superman commented.

Now it was Elsa's turn to say "Your _what?_"

Just then, they arrived at the castle. Superman landed in the courtyard. "By the way, you're a much easier flying companion than your sister. She spent the whole time saying 'Go higher! Go higher!' and then wanting to dive bomb almost straight down," Superman told Elsa.

Elsa wasn't surprised. "That's Anna for you! Did she also tell you how she drove Hans and his brothers crazy this afternoon by talking in Pig Latin the whole time?"

"As a matter of fact, she did," Superman replied. "By the way, where should I drop you off?"

"Would you mind taking me inside? I don't think I can walk on that ankle," Elsa said. "We can go in right there," she added, pointing to the main entrance doors.

Superman opened the door Elsa pointed out and they went inside. Hearing the noise of the door shutting, Gerda came to see who was just barging right into the castle. "Who is it?"

"Gerda, it's just me," Elsa said. "Well, me and a guest," she amended.

"Goodness, are you all right?" Gerda asked Elsa. "You must be Superman," Gerda continued.

"I'm _fine_. I just twisted my ankle, that's all," Elsa replied.

"You should go rest in your room," Gerda said. "And get that ankle looked at."

"No! No, not my room. I want to go to…the castle library," Elsa said hurriedly. She did _not_ want strangers she barely knew in her room, no matter how nice they were.

"Oh, very well. Will you carry her to the library?" Gerda said.

"Sure," Superman agreed, and they went to the library. He set Elsa down on a sofa. Gerda left to get the royal physician to look at Elsa's ankle.

Anna was already in the library, reading a book. "Oh, hello Elsa! And thanks for that awesome flying trip, Superman! Will you take me flying again?"

"You two should go to Cedar Point across Lake Erie," Superman told them. "If you love flying so much, you'll enjoy all the rides there."

"What's Cedar Point and Lake Erie?" Anna asked.

"Lake Erie contains what you call the fjord. And Cedar Point is an amusement park with a lot of rides and other things to do." He paused and then added, "By the way, I thought you might want to know that you can send Hans and his brothers back to the United States to go on trial. They were flying the U.S. flag under false pretenses."

All the puzzle pieces about the modern technology and the places Elsa didn't recognize fell into place. This explained a lot. _Maybe Arendelle should open up trade with the United States,_ Elsa thought. "I think I will, on both counts. We'll visit Cedar Point, and we will send Hans and his brothers to the United States to be tried there."

Just then, Gerda came back with the doctor. "Queen Elsa hurt her ankle. It's not broken, is it?" she said concernedly.

A quick glance told Superman that it wasn't. "No."

Everyone's heads swiveled to Superman. "How do you know?" the doctor said. "I haven't even looked at it yet."

"X-ray vision."

"What's 'x-ray'?" Elsa asked.

"Electromagnetic radiation of high energy and very short wavelength between ultraviolet light and gamma rays that is able to pass through many materials opaque to light."

Now everyone looked even more confused.

"Never mind. It just means I can see that it's not broken," Superman explained.

"Oh, so _that's_ how you could see through the deck," Elsa said. "I get it! That's amazing! So you can see through anything?"

"Anything except lead."

"I wish _I_ had x-ray vision and could see through anything," Anna commented. "Then I could spy on everyone and no one would know it!"

"When that happens, remind me to install lead walls," Elsa quipped.

There was a short silence for a few seconds. Then Superman said, "Well, I suppose I had better be returning to Metropolis."

"Where's that?" asked Anna.

Superman asked for a piece of paper and drew a quick map, marking Arendelle in relation to the U.S. states, and added several large cities' locations, including Metropolis. "I was wondering though…I have some reporter friends at the Daily Planet newspaper, Clark Kent, Lois Lane, and Jimmy Olsen. Would you object to an interview? You would make a front page story."

Elsa and Anna traded glances, and then said, "Yes!" at the same time.

"But how will they get here?" Elsa asked. "If they're all the way over here" she pointed to Metropolis on the map, "then it will take weeks for them to arrive."

"They could come via airplane. If you made a landing strip/runway out of ice on the fjord, that is." Superman replied.

"An airplane? Is that a…flying machine?" Elsa wondered. Then, to the doctor, "Are you finished yet? That hurt." Elsa had practically forgotten about her ankle till just then.

"Yes, your majesty." The doctor finished bandaging Elsa's ankle and stood up. "It's just sprained. Just keep it elevated and stay off it for a week, and it'll be good as new."

"Thank you." Elsa replied, dismissing the doctor. "About the airplane?"

"Yes, it's a flying machine," Superman told her.

"That sounds really impressive! Shall we say, a week from today for the interview at 2PM?"

"Perfect. They'll be here. Goodbye, I'll be in touch." Superman left.


	5. Chapter 4-Day Two, Part 4

Chapter 4-Day Two, Part 4

Later that evening, Elsa was resting on her bed in her room with her ankle propped up on a pillow. _I never finished looking over those documents from yesterday, _she thought. _Oops._ There was a knock on the door as Anna came in, carrying dinner for both herself and Elsa. "I brought us both some dinner," Anna said as she sat down next to Elsa on the bed. "Does it still hurt?"

"Only when someone sits on it. Anna, please _get off._"

Anna hurriedly got up and moved over. "Sorry!"

"It's fine. Thanks for bringing my dinner." Elsa took the plate Anna handed her and stared at a piece of cake, two cookies, and a pile of chocolates. "Anna, this isn't dinner! You brought us each a plate full of dessert!"

"Yeah, I know, isn't it great? And you have to eat it, 'cause I'm not bringing anything else," Anna said gleefully.

Elsa shook her head at Anna's silliness. "Well, I'll agree that it's delicious, anyways." She paused and then said, "By the way, Anna, what exactly happened down at the fjord after I left this morning?"

"I kind of convinced Kristoff to try out the ice slide and then that guy-I _think_ his name was Edolf-said he had something to show me. He showed me that television thing and the next thing I knew I was falling asleep…" Anna reiterated her version of the day's events. "You know what I really want to know though? Where did they get all those 'modern technology' things? Like that lamp you just plug into the wall and stuff? It's obviously everyday stuff outside of Arendelle."

"Remember that map Superman drew for us? I think the Southern Isles has a land border next to the United States. It isn't separated by miles of water like Arendelle is. So all Hans and his brothers had to do was cross the border to get those things," Elsa said. "Perhaps we should try to acquire some of those conveniences here, too. Anyway, when we go to Cedar Point, we will get to see the things for ourselves."

Anna started giggling as she said, "Well, whenever we go, we'll probably have to get some of those funny-looking clothes like Hans and his brothers were wearing as disguises. Otherwise, we'll stick out like sore thumbs at the park. By the way, when _are_ we going to visit Cedar Point?"

"Um, no. I'll stick with my own clothes, thanks," Elsa replied firmly. "As far as I'm concerned, we can go to Cedar Point as soon as my ankle will tolerate it. So maybe next week, the day after the interview thing? And speaking of Hans and his brothers, I wonder how we're going to send them to the United States. According to that map, the capital was quite a long distance east of here, over land, no less."

"Well, Superman said he'd be in touch. He can take them there," Anna suggested.

"I can't rely on him to do my job. I'm the queen, so I have to take care of it," Elsa replied. "But I could ask Superman to send a document to the United States capital and request them to send an airplane to pick them up whenever he comes back. Could you please hand me some paper and a pen? They're over there on the desk."

Anna handed her the paper and pen. "Elsa, how are you going to write up a letter without something hard to write on?"

"Like this." Elsa made an 18 by 24 inch sheet of ice for a lap desk. "See? Instant desk!" She started the letter…._To whom it may concern…_

While Elsa wrote the letter, Anna took their dishes from the dessert-dinner down to the kitchen. Gerda stopped her in the hall outside Elsa's room, suspicious of what exactly "dinner" had consisted of. "Oh, ah…cake. Cookies. And chocolate," Anna said.

"Excuse me for saying so, but those aren't dinner foods, Princess Anna! That's dessert!"

"Um, it's, ah, dinner for your taste buds?" Anna offered. Noticing that Gerda was holding a bag of ice cubes, she asked, "What's that for?"

"It's for your sister's ankle."

Anna just stared. "A bag of ice. For Elsa?" Remembering she was still holding her and Elsa's dinner dishes, she excused herself before Gerda could remind her that eating dessert for dinner wasn't a good idea.

Gerda knocked on Elsa's door. "It's Gerda. I have something for you."

"Please come in," Elsa said distractedly. "I'm almost through with this letter…just a moment." She signed her name at the bottom and looked up as Gerda came in. "Gerda, what's that for?" Elsa asked, pointing at the ice cube bag.

"For your ankle, of course."

"Gerda, I don't think that's going to do anything…The cold doesn't affect me. But thank you anyways," Elsa said.

Realization dawned on Gerda exactly what Elsa meant. Of course ice wasn't going to do anything; if Elsa had wanted ice, she would have made some herself. "Oh. Could I get you something else, then?"

"Actually yes. Those documents on the desk, please. I was supposed to finish looking them over yesterday," Elsa answered.

Gerda handed Elsa the documents. "You're not going to finish all of that tonight, are you? You should be resting."

"It won't take long. Probably a half hour at most."

Gerda left the room as Anna came back in. "What are you doing now, Elsa?" Anna asked her sister.

"I just have to finish looking these over. You can stay in here, but please be quiet until I'm through. Then maybe we can play chess if I'm not asleep by then," Elsa told Anna.

A half hour later, Elsa was asleep, holding the last document in her hand. Anna piled all the other papers together on top of the ice lap desk and set them on Elsa's nightstand. Then she tiptoed to her own room and came back with a blanket and pillow for herself. Anna turned out the lamp in Elsa's room, climbed into the comfy chair in the corner of Elsa's room, and went to sleep.

**A/N: I wanted the days to be in separate chapters to keep it organized, so...some chapters very in length:P Promise we'll go back to longer ones, though!**


	6. Chapter 5-Day Three

Chapter 5-Day Three

The next afternoon, Elsa sent Anna along with a guard down to Hans's boat to give them some food and inform them of their impending trial in the United States. When Anna returned to the castle, she immediately ran up to Elsa's room. "I gave those little toads your message and the food. Tell me again why we have to feed them? Look what I got, though!" Anna dumped the contents of the box she was holding on Elsa's lap.

"What's all this stuff?" Elsa asked as she examined the items. "Let's see…this must be one of those lamps you were talking about. But what are these? And this?" Elsa held up two cell phones and a flashlight. "And what are all these other little cylinder things and these…half flattened cylinder things?"

"How should I know? I just told Hans to give me all the small modern technology stuff they had or else."

"Or else what?" Elsa looked at Anna suspiciously. "What exactly did you threaten them with?"

"Well, I kinda could have potentially said you'd freeze them if he didn't give me the stuff…" Anna sounded sheepish.

"You said _what?!_ Anna, you know full well I have no intentions of doing any such thing! Not to mention I can't very well go down to the fjord right now anyway."

"Yeah, Hans wasted no time informing me that you were so-called 'out of commission' at the moment. So I said you'd do it next week instead!" Anna stopped talking as she noticed Elsa's upset expression and the decreasing temperature in the room. "Elsa…what's the matter? I just wanted to get some of these modern technology things for us to look at…"

"I know you didn't mean anything by it, but never, _never_ threaten anyone that I'm going to freeze them for something. I certainly don't care what Hans and his brothers think of me, but let's just say one of our citizens heard you say that and thought it was actually true. What would they think?" Elsa looked down at her hands as she clasped them together. "You know I can control it now, at least most of the time, but the fact remains I froze the whole kingdom a month ago. Not on purpose, but still. I highly doubt everyone has forgotten that already."

"Oh, Elsa." Anna grabbed Elsa's hand and sat down next to her. "What happened a month ago is in the past. We don't have to worry or think about it anymore. And if it makes you feel any better, nobody heard me say it except for Hans and his brothers."

Elsa answered, "Actually, it does make me feel better. Just please don't say it to anyone else." The temperature rose back to normal.

"Don't worry; I won't!"

"Now let's get back to investigating all these modern technology things." Elsa smiled and picked up the flashlight and pushed the button on the side. "A light! I wonder how this works?" She screwed off the end and two batteries fell out. "So that's what all these little cylinder things do."

It took them a while, but they finally figured out what the cell phones did as well. "Whoa…they're little talking devices!" Anna said excitedly. "Let me go downstairs and see if I can call you from there."

Anna ran downstairs and called the other phone Elsa had. "Hello?" Anna heard Elsa say through the phone.

"IT WORKS! IT WORKS!" Anna screeched.

"Anna! You're screaming in my ear!" Elsa protested.

"Oh yeah, sorry, I forgot. Isn't this awesome, though?!"

"It's impressive, all right."

"I'm coming back upstairs now, ok?"

"All right. Bye." Elsa clicked the 'off' button on her phone and set it down. Then she picked up one of the 'half flattened cylinder things', a cigarette lighter. She flicked the switch on the top and dropped it in surprise when the flame lit up. The flame went out when Elsa dropped the lighter, but not before catching the side of the bed on fire.

Anna ran back into Elsa's room on quite a scene. There was Elsa, eyes wide as she stared at the flames licking at the wood. _"ELSA, JUST FREEZE IT!"_ Anna shrieked.

Elsa snapped her head toward the sound of Anna's voice. _Just freeze it? Oh, oh yes, of course._ She shot an ice blast at the flames, which quickly smothered the small fire. "Thank goodness you came in just then, Anna! I was so surprised when that thing had a flame in it that I dropped it, and…" she trailed off. "Wait, that must be what Hans used when he tried to set that wire on fire. Anyway, let's send all those things down to the kitchen. They'll be useful for starting up cooking fires and things like that."

Anna opened her mouth to reply just as Gerda came running into the room. "I heard shrieking coming from in here. What happened?" Then Gerda noticed the slightly charred bed frame covered over with ice. "How did you start a fire in here?"

Elsa and Anna looked at each other. "There was a little accident," Elsa finally replied. "Everything's fine now though."

"And we have something for the kitchen," Anna offered.

"Yes, we sure do. These" Elsa held up another of the lighters, careful not to touch the switch "have little flames in them. We thought they would be useful for starting the fires in the kitchen."

"Where on earth did you get something like that?" Gerda asked.

"I got them from Hans when I picked up all the modern technology stuff," Anna said. "Along with the talking devices, this handheld light that runs on the little cylinders, and the lamp that you plug into the wall. And this thing," she held up a solar powered cell phone charger, "But I don't know what it is."

"Well, please be careful with that stuff. None of those other objects make fires, do they?"

"No, they don't," Elsa replied. She put all thirteen of the lighters back in the box Anna had brought them in, and handed it to Gerda. "These are for the kitchen."

Gerda took the box and left.

"By the way, Anna, do you want to have that chess game now? Let's put the modern technology stuff away for awhile," Elsa said.

Elsa and Anna played chess for the next hour and a half. Both girls were avid chess players, since they had both played against themselves a lot when they were little to pass the time. Finally, "Check," said Anna.

"Not so fast," Elsa said, blocking Anna's anticipated move that would result in checkmate.

Anna made her next move, which kept Elsa from capturing her queen, but left her king unguarded for Elsa to make her next move.

"Checkmate."

"Aw, I thought I had the game won," Anna complained good-naturedly.

"You did till you left your king unguarded," Elsa pointed out where Anna had made her mistake.

"Oh, well. I'll beat you next time!" Anna teased.

**A/N: Nice job figuring out what most of the 'modern technology stuff' was, Elsa and Anna! Even if one of you did kinda start a fire by accident... Cigarette lighters in the kitchen...all righty then. Hey, it COULD work!:)**


	7. Chapter 6-Day Six, Part 1

Chapter 6-Day Six, Part 1

The next three days passed rather uneventfully, aside from the return of Olaf (who had been up on the North Mountain with Marshmallow); Kristoff returning to the castle and learning about what had _really_ transpired when Anna went missing ("You mean she didn't run off just to be silly?!"); and Superman stopping by to offer a charter plane to transport Hans and his brothers to the U.S. capital for their trial (Elsa accepted the offer, but gave Superman the letter she'd originally written as well). And several chess games, all of which Elsa won, to Anna's chagrin. On the fifth day after the Hans fiasco, Kai knocked on Elsa's door to tell her she had a visitor. "He calls himself Lex Luthor, your majesty, and claims he can only talk with you."

"Tell him that Princess Anna will be glad to meet with him, but that I'm busy," Elsa sounded a bit annoyed. She was getting restless from being cooped up in her room for the last several days; she'd had quite enough of staying in her room in the past to last a lifetime.

"Wait, what? I don't want to meet with him! What would I even say?" Anna jumped up from her seat in the comfy chair in the corner where she had been reading a book.

"Anna, you _have_ to. I'm certainly not going to have a meeting in here in my room," Elsa said.

"Oh, all right," Anna conceded.

Kai left and was back five minutes later. "Mr. Luthor says he _must_ speak with Queen Elsa and no other. What shall I tell him?"

Elsa considered this for a moment. "All right, tell him I'll meet with him in fifteen minutes."

"Very well." Kai left.

"But Elsa, your ankle! How are you going to get downstairs?" Anna asked.

"You're going to help me downstairs. But _not_ down the banister, if you please," Elsa said. "Then I'll just sit for the duration of the meeting. Will you get my blue dress out of the closet?"

"Sure," Anna agreed. She opened Elsa's closet. "Uh, which blue dress? They're, like, almost _all_ blue!"

"Oops, sorry, I guess I wasn't specific. The ice blue one I made, please." Elsa hesitantly stood up and put weight on her ankle. It ached, but didn't collapse under her. "Oh, Anna, you should go change your clothes too. You're going to sit in during the meeting."

"Thrills. Oh, all right, I'll be right back," Anna replied, running down the hall to her own room.

Elsa quickly pulled on her dress and rebraided her hair. Then she limped out into the hall right as Anna came racing headlong down the hall. Anna skidded to a stop just before running into her sister. The two made their way to the top of the stairs, Elsa leaning on Anna for support. Anna tried to pick up Elsa to carry her downstairs. "Good grief, Elsa, you're heavier than you look!" Anna complained. "Can't we just slide down the banister?"

"Anna, if we do that, you know we're both going to crash at the bottom, so no way," Elsa replied.

Anna slammed both of them into the railing and nearly dropped Elsa.

"All right, time out. Put me down," said Elsa, rubbing her elbow. "At this rate, we're just going to fall down the stairs."

"There's always the option of sliding down the banister," Anna offered.

_Well, it can't hurt, I suppose,_ Elsa thought. "All right, but make sure nobody's down at the bottom of the stairs first."

Anna leaned over the railing so she could see the bottom of the spiral staircase. "The coast is clear!"

Elsa and Anna slid down and crash-landed, as expected. "…and I have a gift and business proposition for Queen Elsa," they heard from an adjoining room. Then, "Hi, I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs!" and "Ahhh! What's that?"

"I guess this Lex Luthor guy hasn't seen a talking snowman before," Anna laughed as she and Elsa dusted themselves off. "Now we just got to sneak over to the Great Hall for this ever so interesting-not!-meeting."

They made their way through the castle to the Great Hall, where Elsa immediately sat down on her throne. "I don't think my ankle liked that last escapade too much." Noticing there wasn't a place next to her for Anna to sit, she waved her hand and another throne made of ice materialized beside her own for Anna.

"Wow, I get to sit there?!"

"Yes. Now sit down; our guest will be here any minute now."

A few seconds later, Kai made the announcement. "Introducing Mr. Lex Luthor and Miss Teschmacher of the United States."

"Welcome to Arendelle," Elsa greeted her visitors. "May I help you with something?"

Luthor flashed what he considered an award-winning smile and bowed, while Miss Teschmacher curtsied. "Ah yes, I think so. You made all the intriguing ice, I presume?" Luthor said eagerly.

"Oh, Lex, what do you think? Of course she made the ice; it's still summer time!" Miss Teschmacher scolded. "Oh sorry, you must think I have terrible manners, Queen Elsa!"

Elsa, who was usually excellent at reading people upon first meeting, immediately labeled Luthor as being vain and full of himself. _Well, at least he doesn't dislike my ice anyways_, she thought. She also decided that Miss Teschmacher struck her as a bit airheaded and was wearing a slightly inappropriate outfit. "Yes, I did make the ice."

"See, I told you so!" Miss Teschmacher said triumphantly.

"Oh, do be quiet. Where is my gift for Queen Elsa?" Luthor sounded irritated. Miss Teschmacher handed him a small gray box, and Luthor handed the box to Elsa.

"Thank you, sir. This must be lead; it's rather heavy for such a small box," Elsa said as she opened the box. Inside lay a green rock.

Anna leaned over to see what was inside the box. "A rock?!" Anna started giggling, and Elsa elbowed her to make her be quiet.

Elsa took the rock out of the box and looked it over carefully. It seemed to glow slightly. "Well, thank you for the…green rock," Elsa said, not sure what else to call it.

"That isn't just a green rock, your majesty; it's kryptonite. It can take away superpowers when certain individuals come in contact with it," Luthor explained.

Elsa hastily dropped the rock back into the box and shut the lid, just as an outraged Anna jumped up and exclaimed, "It does _what?!_ If you came here to hurt my sister, I'll…I'll…"

"Anna, please sit down," Elsa replied in a tense voice. _If he has rocks that take away superpowers, who knows what else he's up to?_ She felt like hightailing it out of there as fast as possible; but she was quite certain that firstly, her ankle wouldn't let her, and secondly, Anna couldn't finish the meeting properly. "I'm fine; it must not have had time to do anything, at least I don't think so…" Elsa tested this theory by forming a snowflake in her hand. "See, Anna?" To her visitors, she said in an aloof tone, "Do _not_ pull a stunt like that again."

"You misunderstand me, Queen Elsa. That rock will have no effect on you; only individuals from the planet Krypton," Luthor answered. "I have a business proposition for you: If you help me get rid of Superman, I'll give you a large estate on the beach in California. I heard that you know him from a reliable source."

_He wants me to do what?!_ Elsa was incredulous at the prospect of such an idea. She wasn't surprised that Luthor knew that Superman had been in Arendelle, however; she figured (correctly) that some other 'modern technology' device had informed him. "I will not do any such thing. Superman helped my sister and me once, and I will not repay him by doing something like that. Not to mention, I have no need of an estate in California. Also, if this kryptonite is as strong as you claim, why are you even asking for my assistance?"

"Because my last encounter with Superman and kryptonite did not end as planned," Luthor responded, glaring at Miss Teschmacher. (Luthor had managed to get Superman in contact with kryptonite once before, and Miss Teschmacher had rescued him before the kryptonite did any damage.)

"You will have to find another gullible pigeon to assist you in that venture; I will have no part of it. This meeting is over. Kai, please show Mr. Luthor and Miss Teschmacher out," Elsa said, unwavering in her decision.

Kai began to steer the two visitors out of the Great Hall. Elsa and Anna heard a "But what if it were _two_ estates in California?" They looked at each other in stupefied silence.

Finally, Elsa spoke what they were both thinking. "That was one absurd meeting."

"You can say that again! That Luthor guy is crazy…hey, by the way, what are you going to do with the kryptonite?" Anna replied.

"I don't know. For now, I'm just going to stick it in the back of my closet until we can find out if what he said was even true. He could have just been bluffing, although somehow I doubt it," Elsa said. "Besides, he said 'individuals from planet Krypton.' That means there could be others like Superman. If a person with bad intentions had all those powers he does, that would be horrible. I want to be ready, just in case."

"Makes sense to me," Anna responded. "Come on, let's go back upstairs."

"All right, but you aren't carrying me this time. I have a better idea."

**A/N: Great job, Luthor. Did you really think Elsa was going to help you kill Superman? Anyway, Elsa has some kryptonite now because she wants to keep it 'just in case'...:)**


	8. Chapter 7-Day Six, Part 2

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who's read my story up to this point.:) I would really, really appreciate some reviews, though...puh-lease?;)**

Chapter 7-Day Six, Part 2

They made their way to the bottom of the stairs, where Elsa thought for a moment before making a smooth ice ramp that swirled all the way up the staircase.

"Elsa, what are you doing? Now the whole thing's just slippery. And impossible to climb…" Anna was confused.

"Well, if you just want to wait for me to go upstairs by myself and you can come up the normal way after I dissolve it, that's perfectly fine," Elsa teased. "Or we can slide all the way up backwards instead." A flick of her wrist made a sled just big enough to hold the both of them.

"Oh, wow, goody! How is this going to work?" Anna asked.

"You sit down first, facing backwards, away from the stairs. Here, hold the kryptonite box."

"Backwards?" Anna was still puzzled, but she sat down anyway. Elsa sat in front of her.

"Are you ready? Hold on!" Elsa launched the sled backwards up the ramp with a blast of cold air. They flew around the bends in the staircase smoothly as they went faster and faster.

"Why didn't we do this before? This is AWESOME!" Anna shouted. She turned to see how much staircase was left before reaching the burgundy-carpeted hallway upstairs. Not much! "Um, Elsa, we're almost to the top! Slow us down!"

Elsa slowed them down just in time to send the sled careening into the wall of the hallway, making both of them tumble off. "Oh, that was a switch. I made us crash instead of you for a change," Elsa giggled. "I really, really hope nobody saw us do that."

No such luck. There was Gerda, coming down the hallway to find out what had made the crash. She observed the sight of both Elsa and Anna sprawled on the floor laughing, the iced-over staircase-turned-ramp, and the ice sled that had run into the wall. "What were you two doing? You're not supposed to be using that ankle yet, Miss Elsa. And Miss Anna, how did you manage to convince your sister to make all this?"

Elsa answered, "It wasn't Anna's idea, Gerda. It was mine. I had to go to a meeting downstairs-"

"-which was the craziest thing ever-" Anna cut in.

"-and Anna had trouble helping me down the stairs before, so I made the ramp and sled so it would be easier to come back up. Obviously it got a bit out of hand and went too fast," Elsa finished explaining.

"Well, I'm glad that you two are having fun together, but please be careful, if you'll pardon me for saying so, your majesty," Gerda replied. "Also, er…I need to go downstairs, and…"

"Oh! I'm sorry! I'll get rid of it right away," Elsa said. She quickly dissolved all the ice on the staircase and the sled as well.

Gerda went downstairs, leaving a very hyper Anna and an embarrassed Elsa upstairs in the hall sitting on the floor.

"That was _embarrassing_, Anna. Remind me to never do that again," Elsa told Anna when she was sure Gerda was out of hearing range.

"Oh, come on, Elsa, you thought it was fun, too," Anna said. "I wish we could do it again right now!"

"Well, I agree that yes, it was fun, but I'm not supposed to do things like that! Nobody will take me seriously as Arendelle's leader if I'm flying around on sleds and crashing into walls. Everyone probably already thinks that I'm incompetent from the whole…incident last month, and the plain simple fact that I'm a girl," Elsa tried to explain her thoughts.

"That's ridiculous, Elsa, and you know it! What happened a month ago was not your fault, and besides, you fixed it! And if people really think that you're an incompetent leader because you're a girl, then they're being sexist, and completely utterly stupid," Anna said emphatically.

"Ok, I one hundred percent agree on the second part, that that opinion is sexist and stupid," Elsa agreed. "But it doesn't change that people _are_ going to think that. I don't want to give them any excuse whatsoever to think that. Now about the first part, that's very debatable. Nobody else froze the whole kingdom in the middle of summer but me…so I think that was definitely my fault…" she trailed off.

"Elsa…that was Not. Your. Fault. Maybe if our parents had handled things differently, you would've figured out how to control it a long time ago. Besides, maybe if I'd just given you your glove back at the coronation, it wouldn't have happened either," Anna replied.

Elsa spun herself around and stared at the wall, facing away from Anna. "I don't want to talk about what 'might have happened'. In fact, I don't want to discuss this at all." She picked at the tear in the wallpaper where the sled had run into the wall. "Don't feel, don't feel," Elsa mumbled to herself as snowflakes started falling around her.

"Elsa, you stop that 'don't feel' stuff!" Anna said, shaking Elsa's shoulder. "We don't have to talk about it; I'm sorry I brought it up."

"Why are _you_ the one apologizing to _me_?" Elsa turned a sad face toward Anna.

"Because I'm the one that brought up the 'what might have happened' scenarios. Come on, Elsa, please cheer up. You know what you need? A brand-new mantra instead of that horrid old 'conceal, don't feel' nonsense. Like maybe: 'I'm amazing and nothing can change that!' or something."

Elsa gave Anna a small smile at that, and the snowflakes disappeared. "All right, it's settled-no more 'conceal, don't feel' stuff. At least I'll try not to, anyways." Then she whispered to Anna, "How do you suggest we mend the wallpaper? We can't leave it like that."

"Easy…we'll just, ah…put this in front of it." Anna jumped up and started dragging a small cabinet sitting farther down the hall toward the spot where the wallpaper was torn.

"Anna! What are you doing? I didn't mean just cover it up; I meant actually fix it! Besides…what if we fly into the wall again?" Elsa smiled mischievously at Anna as she asked the last question.

"You mean…we can do the slide ramp launch thing again?!" Anna pushed the cabinet back to its original spot.

"Yes, but not down the staircase. We can do it up here in the hallway, so no one will see us. I think the ceiling is high enough that it will still work properly. Do you want to try it now?"

"Absolutely!"

"All right, first things first, so we don't ruin the walls, just in case." Elsa covered the whole hallway's walls with a thin sheen of ice. "Now if we crash, the wallpaper won't be torn." She thought for a few seconds before sending an intricate-looking track of ice swirling up and down the hallway. Then she made a sled identical to the one they had flown up the staircase on. "All right, let me test it first. If it works, then we can do it together, ok, Anna?"

"Ok."

Elsa sat down on the sled, facing backwards, as before. "Here goes…" She launched the sled backwards up the first hill in the track. Elsa turned partway around to see that she was approaching far too close to the ceiling. Freezing the sled in place for a moment, she lowered the height of the track a bit; then tested it by moving the sled slowly towards the apex of the hill. She reached overhead with one hand to see if she was clearing the ceiling. _All clear! Since Anna is a bit shorter, she'll be fine too._ Elsa let the sled fly down the other side of the hill. She laughed in surprise at the unexpected stomach-dropping sensation on the drop and grabbed the side of the sled. _I have to remind Anna to hold on for that part! _Realizing that she didn't to add momentum to keep going, she let the sled move of its own accord for the rest of the trip. It stalled a little in one spot, so she used another blast of cold air to relaunch the sled then. The sled glided to a smooth stop in front of Anna. "Are you ready?"

"You bet! This looks even better than the staircase thing!" Anna climbed on behind Elsa.

"Now, Anna, you have to hold on, especially when we go down that drop," Elsa pointed to the opposite side of the hill.

"All right, all right. Let's go already!"

"Anna, I mean it. Seriously, please hold on." Elsa paused, then said, "Ready?"

"On your marks…get set…go!" Anna finished.

Elsa sent them flying up the hill. She stopped their sled at the apex. "Anna, are you holding on?"

"_Yes,_" Anna answered impatiently.

"All right, here we go!" Elsa let them fly over the top.

Anna squealed in delight on the way down, and Elsa shushed her, reminding Anna that they were supposed to be quiet so no one would catch them. They flew around the twists and turns in the track. Elsa couldn't remember where she'd had to relaunch the sled the first time, but it didn't matter. With both her and Anna on the sled, there was already enough momentum that she didn't have to relaunch it at all. They glided to a stop back at the bottom of the first hill.

"So, what did you think?" Elsa asked Anna.

"I think that was AWESOME! Can we go again?"

"Sure!"

They flew around the track once more…and again…and again. Finally, Anna asked if she could ride facing forwards once.

"Yes, but you'll have to ride alone for that. I can't launch the sled if we're facing forwards. Here, I'll get off…let me turn the sled around." Elsa climbed off the sled and limped a few feet away from the track. She 'picked up' the sled with Anna still sitting on it, and turned it 180 degrees so it faced the opposite direction.

"Whoa, how'd you do that?!" Anna asked in surprise. "You just picked up me AND the sled like it was nothing! You weren't even physically touching it!"

"I don't know! I didn't know I could do that myself!" Elsa was surprised herself; she'd expected to be able to pick up her own ice, but not the ice _and_ Anna. "Maybe it's because you're sitting on something I made? Because I know I can't pick you up like that if you were, say, sitting on one of the dining room chairs…"

"Well, that was really cool-no pun intended!" Anna laughed. "Can you do it again?"

"I think so…" Elsa did the same thing again, except she turned it a complete 360 degrees this time. "So, do you still want to ride facing forwards, Anna?"

"Yep!"

"Are you ready?"

"Yeah, yeah, launch it already!"

Elsa sent the sled flying, using a stronger blast of air this time since there was less weight on the sled, which meant it needed more momentum to make it all the way around the track without stalling. But it was too much energy, and the sled flew over the top and completely left the track, flying through the air. Anna squealed with excitement and let go of the sled. "ANNA, HOLD ON!" Elsa screamed. Everything was a blur as she shot an ice blast at the sled, trying to freeze it in place, but Anna had already cleared the sled and had somehow fallen all the way off the track entirely to the floor. All Elsa saw was an empty sled, frozen in place, and no Anna. "Oh, no, not again!" Elsa muttered, thinking the worst. She sat down curled in a ball on the floor and cried. _It's déjà vu. How can this possibly be happening again?! _This felt far too similar to the original accident from when they were little.

Meanwhile, Anna had indeed fallen on the floor, but Elsa hadn't hit her, and she was entirely unhurt aside from a bruise on her elbow where she'd hit it on the way down. She promptly ran over to Elsa. "Elsa, Elsa, what's the matter?"

"What?" Elsa looked up at Anna, tears streaking her face. "Anna, I _hit you again!_ Just like when we were little!"

"No you didn't! You just froze the sled in place. I'd already fallen off by then. I'm fine!" Anna assured her.

Elsa stared at Anna. Anna certainly _looked_ fine. There was no white streak in her hair, and she obviously wasn't unconscious. "You're…fine?" She looked at the distance from the top of the track to the floor (which was quite a ways) and then back at Anna. "You mean you fell all the way from up there…and nothing happened?"

"Nope, just a little bruise," Anna said cheerfully. "I've gotten way worse from climbing around on the roof of the castle."

"From doing _what?_ Tell me you didn't say 'climbing around on the roof'."

"I could, but then I'd be lying. It's fun-you should come up there with me sometime!"

Elsa brushed the tears off her face and shook her head at Anna. "What if you fell off? You could get yourself killed!"

"Then I guess I wouldn't be climbing up there anymore," Anna said nonchalantly.

"Anna, you must be crazy! I know how amazing the view from a height is, but you can't just…" Elsa paused for a moment, and then continued as she remembered something, "And you know what? Now that I know you're fine, I get to scold you for something! The reason you fell is because you didn't hold on to the sled up there. I told you to _hold on_! You scared me to death-I really thought I hit you again."

"I'm sorry-I didn't mean to scare you. It was just…it went so fast and it was really really awesome…" Anna apologized.

"Well, how about we just do it facing backwards until I figure out how to launch the sled while we're facing forwards? I'm sure there's a way to do it. And… you have to promise to hold on, or I won't make any more rides..._ever._"

"Deal." Anna paused as she heard noises coming up the steps. "I think we're going to get caught again."

Elsa turned to see Olaf at the top of the steps. "It's just Olaf, Anna. He won't tell on us."

"Tell on you what?" Olaf looked excited at the prospect of a secret.

Anna gave Elsa a look that said, 'Yeah right Olaf won't tell on us.' Then she told Olaf, "Um, the ice-ride thing taking up the whole hallway? Don't tell anyone you saw it."

"Why not?" Olaf asked.

"Just please don't," Elsa said. "It's a secret."

"I love secrets!"

"Yes, Olaf, that's great. Do you understand? Please. Don't. Tell. Anyone. All right?" Elsa tried to make things clear to the little snowman.

"All right. I'm not supposed to tell anyone I saw the ice-ride thing taking up the whole hallway. Got it." Olaf waddled back downstairs.

As soon as Olaf was out of sight, Anna remarked, "Let's see how long _that's_ a secret. I bet the whole castle will know by tomorrow morning!"

"Well, maybe not…all the same, though, let's stop this for today." Elsa made a mental note of the dimensions of the track before dissolving the whole thing, along with the sled and the ice lining the walls. "Shall we have another round of chess?"

"You're on! Maybe I'll beat you this time!"

**A/N: Oh, Elsa. Your ice-ride crashed 'cause you didn't make upstop wheels like on a regular roller coaster instead of a sled to ride in.:P Oops.:)**


	9. Chapter 8-Day Six, Part 3

Chapter 8-Day Six, Part 3

They headed to Elsa's room for a chess rematch. Partway through their game, Gerda came in with their dinner. "Here's your dinner," Gerda said as she handed them each a tray containing barbeque chicken, salad, and ice cream sodas.

"Salad? Blech!" Anna complained.

"Thank you, Gerda," Elsa said, trying to cover for Anna, although she did not care for salad either.

"You're welcome. By the way, what's this I hear about an 'ice-ride thing taking up the whole hallway' from Olaf?"

"Oh, you know Olaf, always making stuff up," Anna said.

"Oh," Gerda replied, and shut the door behind her.

"Anna, what did you say that for? Olaf wasn't making that up!" Elsa said.

"Well, you said you didn't want anyone to know what we were doing. I was trying to help."

"You can't just lie like that, even if you _were_ trying to help. It's just…not right."

"I suppose you would have just said, 'Oh, yeah, that's right, we were just flying around on an ice-ride in the hallway'."

"Yes…"

"Then why didn't you say it when Gerda was in here?"

"You jumped in before I could say anything! There wasn't time for me to get a word in edgewise!"

"What do you want me to do, go downstairs and tell Gerda what really happened?"

"Well…"

"See? You don't!" Anna was mad. Why did Elsa always have to be so proper? "If you didn't care that people knew that we were playing on an ice-ride, I wouldn't have said it in the first place!" She stalked out of the room with her dinner tray and slammed the door behind her, immediately regretting it. _Now why did I just do that? I know Elsa didn't mean anything by saying what she did…and I guess I did sorta lie. But I was TRYING to help! _Anna stood outside the door, hoping Elsa would call her back in. Elsa didn't. After waiting a few minutes in silence, Anna went to her own room to eat alone.

Inside her room, Elsa picked at her dinner and hoped Anna would come back in on her own. _Maybe I shouldn't have fussed at her for that…after all I did say I didn't want anyone to know what we were doing. But why did Anna have to LIE about it?!_ When Anna didn't come back, she decided that Anna must be have been mad enough to go back and eat by herself in her own room. She figured Anna had a right to shut her out for once; after all, Elsa had done it to her for thirteen years. _Still...we are not having that happen again, especially over something so silly. I'm going to go apologize right now._ Elsa set her dinner aside and limped out into the hallway to Anna's room. She knocked softly on Anna's door. "Anna? It's me, Elsa."

Anna ran over and opened the door. "I thought you were mad at me!" Anna said.

"I thought _you_ were mad at _me_! Ow, watch the ankle," Elsa said as Anna yanked her inside. "I think I've used it way too much today…"

"I'm sorry on both counts! About lying and the ankle," Anna replied.

"Completely forgiven on both counts," Elsa smiled. "And our little argument wasn't entirely your fault. I _did_ tell you I wanted to keep the ice-ride a secret. So…how about we tell Gerda what really happened? And tell her to keep it a secret. That way, we aren't lying to her, but no one else will know besides her either." Elsa added in a whisper, "Confidentially, Olaf isn't the best secret keeper anyway, so someone is bound to find out now no matter what we do."

Anna giggled. "All right."

"Back to the chess game while we finish dinner?" Elsa offered.

"Absolutely."

"By the way, Anna…your room is a complete _mess_! It looks like a tornado came through here," Elsa said as she looked around Anna's very messy room.

"It's organized messy." Anna pointed to different piles of things around her room. "See, those are hair ribbons, those are dirty clothes, those are clean ones, these are shoes…"

"Ok, then…As long as you can find stuff, it's your room, your prerogative to keep it as messy as you like," Elsa replied.

"What's 'prerogative'?"

"Uh, it just means it's your right to keep your room however you like."

"Oh. So…can we go eat dinner now?"

"Sure."

They headed back to Elsa's room to finish dinner and their chess game. When Anna won the game, she crowed with delight. "CHECKMATE! I finally beat you for once!" Anna said as she danced around the room.

Elsa couldn't keep from laughing. "Anna, you are crazy. If someone walked in right this second, they would say you're insane!"

"I don't care! We've played chess a whole bunch of times in the last few days, and you won every single game! And I won this time!" Anna flopped onto the bed next to Elsa. "So…rematch? I'm on a roll-one in a row, y'know!"

"How about a different sort of rematch?" Elsa made a small snowball and tossed it on Anna.

"Hey! But sure," Anna said. "You know what? Maybe I'll beat you fair and square in a snowball fight this time."

"And why might that be?" Elsa asked as she covered the floor with a thick layer of snow. "I might be stuck over here, but I can do this…" she made an ice shield as Anna threw a snowball at her.

"No fair! I can't do that!" Anna said as the snowball she'd thrown at Elsa hit the shield instead of Elsa herself.

Elsa tossed another snowball at Anna. Elsa realized that Anna was definitely at a major disadvantage even with Elsa staying on the bed, so she quickly created a catapult made of ice just large enough to hold snowballs next to Anna. "There you go, Anna! No excuse now!"

Anna quickly made several snowballs and catapulted them toward Elsa, who deflected most of the snowballs anyway. Only one hit its target. Elsa giggled and wiped the snow out of her face. She sent a snowball flying back at Anna. Five minutes later, the room was covered with snow all over, even the walls and ceiling. (Elsa had bounced snowballs off the ceiling down at Anna; and when Anna tried the same thing, they stuck there instead of ricocheting off.) "Time out!" Anna said breathlessly.

"How about 'game over'? You're freezing!" Elsa said as she noticed that Anna's bare hands and face were red from the cold snow. Elsa had forgotten that Anna was not immune to the cold like she was.

"I'm f-f-f-fine! Let's k-k-k-keep playing!" Anna shivered, but didn't want to admit it.

"No way! Anna, you're shivering," Elsa said firmly. She dissipated all the snow covering the room. "We can play again tomorrow if you put on warm clothes first. And don't come sit over here with me till you warm up," she added as Anna tried to sit next to her. "You can't warm up if you're sitting next to one big ice cube!" Elsa said, referring to how her skin and the air immediately surrounding her felt cold to anyone besides herself.

"Oh, all right. I'll b-b-be right back; I'm g-g-g-going to get a b-b-blanket from my r-r-room," Anna said, and was back in a flash. "Is it ok if I start a fire in your fireplace?" she asked when she came back.

"I suppose…" Elsa never started a fire in her room if she could help it, not in the winter and especially not in the summer. She knew that she was capable of getting too hot, and the room already felt plenty warm to her, but maybe it really was cold in her room to anyone besides herself.

Anna started a fire in Elsa's little-used fireplace. The fire's warm glow began to spread throughout the room. "Hey, Elsa, want to sit over here with me?"

"No, thanks."

A few minutes passed as neither of them said anything more.

"Anna, don't you think it's getting kind of hot in here?" Elsa asked. "I'm sweating-it's too hot!"

Anna looked puzzled. "No. You're not even sitting anywhere near the fire, Elsa; how can you be sweating?"

"I don't know, but I am. It's like a sauna or something to me!" Elsa felt a little dizzy.

Just then, Gerda came to collect their dinner dishes. She was surprised to see a fire going in Elsa's room. "There's a…fire going in here?"

"Yes, Anna got cold, so I let her start a fire. But it's _so hot!_" Elsa replied. "Now I know why I never do that in here. Do you think it's hot in here, Gerda?" Elsa asked hopefully. Maybe Anna was the weird one this time.

"Quite honestly, it's on the warm side, but not oppressively so," Gerda said as she left the room.

"I can't deal with this heat anymore!" Elsa exclaimed, and left the room as fast as her ankle would let her, practically falling on Gerda in the hallway.

"Goodness, are you all right?" Gerda asked as Elsa made snow all around herself to cool off.

"I'm fine now. It was just _way_ too stuffy in there for me! It was like I'd been out in the sun too long and got dizzy. I don't remember that happening when I was little the few times someone started a fire in my room though…It must be because I was making cold air _all_ the time then or something since I couldn't control it, I don't know," Elsa said.

"Why don't you tell Anna to go start a fire in her own room?" Gerda suggested.

"Actually, I think if I just keep the snow falling on me, it'll be fine," Elsa said, and went back into her (hot) room.

Anna snuffed out the fire as a snowy Elsa came back in. "Um, Elsa, why is there snow all over you?"

"Because I was getting really really hot because of that fire," Elsa explained. "Oh, thank goodness you put it out," she added as she noticed the few still-glowing embers in the fireplace. Elsa lay down on her bed and let the snow continue falling on her.

"Elsa…are you going to sleep like that?"

"Why not?"

" 'Cause your room is going to be all full of snow by morning!"

"So? I'll just get rid of it then. It doesn't bother me any." Elsa yawned and turned over. "You should go to sleep too; it's really late."

"ELSA! I want to stay in here and sleep in the comfy chair like I've been doing. You might like sleeping in the snow, but it's too cold for me!"

Elsa's breathing told Anna that she was asleep and no longer listening. Anna decided she'd go sleep in her own room since she didn't want to sleep in Elsa's if there was going to be snow everywhere. "Goodnight, Elsa," Anna whispered, and left the room.

**A/N: I was always wondering why Elsa wasn't hot in that long-sleeve dress at the coronation. Either she's immune to heat or she was cooling herself off subconsciously since she didn't know how to control her powers at that point. Personally I don't think she's immune to heat because why would being immune to cold automatically make her immune to heat? To me, if anything, she'd get TOO hot easily.:P Anyway... I suppose in my story, Elsa can make impenetrable ice among other things, but she's ****_not_**** immune to heat.:) **


	10. Chapter 9-Day Seven, Part 1

**A/N: This chapter is really short, but the next one will make up for it.:)**

Chapter 9-Day Seven, Part 1

Elsa awoke early the next morning. _Why is there snow all over my bed and half the floor?_ She sat up and shook the snow out of her hair. _Oh, I remember now…_ Not seeing Anna anywhere, she figured Anna had gone to her own room the night before. _Anna probably didn't want to sleep in a snowy room…oops._ Elsa dissolved all the snow and hopped out of bed. "Ow!" she said aloud as she landed on her ankle. "I shouldn't have done that!" Elsa's ankle felt a lot better now, but it still hurt when she used it too much. She wanted to write up some notes for ideas for the Annual Crocus Festival, which was coming up in two weeks, before she went downstairs for breakfast. _Hmm…we can have purple and yellow banners for decorations. And maybe we can go ice skating in the courtyard again. For food and drinks…barbeque chicken…ice cream…milk…grape juice…definitely NOT wine._ Elsa had decided that she would _not_ serve wine at the festival; it looked like a "refined" beverage at events, but it made everyone act loopy when they had too much and she personally found the taste of it disgusting. She was mulling over whether she could safely make an ice-ride for all the children to go on when there was a knock on her door. "Come in."

"Your majesty, there's two letters here I thought you needed to see immediately. One is from the king of the Southern Isles, and the other is from the Duke of Weaseltown-oops, Weselton," Kai said. "Sorry if I woke you."

"You didn't; I'm working on some plans for the Annual Crocus Festival," Elsa replied. "Wait…tell me you didn't say the Southern Isles and Weselton…" Those places could only be bringing bad news. She took the two letters from Kai and quickly read through them. "The king of the Southern Isles is declaring war on Arendelle because I sent Hans and his brothers to the United States for their trial?! This says "you should have sent my sons back to me for any sort of punishment they may have allegedly deserved". And it says the Southern Isles' navy will be here five days from now! And that I said I planned to increase Arendelle's borders by force-I never, ever said that! Arendelle doesn't even have a large army or navy. The one from Weselton says the Duke has allied with the Southern Isles…" _The duke probably started rumors about me_, Elsa thought bitterly, recalling the names he'd called her at the coronation. "Wait, I'll bet that the Duke of Weselton said that I was going to use my powers to do that. That's what was meant 'by force', not an army or navy…"

"I know what those letters say," Kai said quietly. "That's why I brought them to you right away."

"Thank you, Kai. I need to think on the best course of action to take."

Kai left Elsa in her room, engrossed in her thoughts.

Setting aside her festival plans, she reread the two letters carefully. Perhaps there was a caveat she'd missed. Maybe Arendelle could avoid war by paying their enemies off. Elsa knew her kingdom had a rich, flourishing economy, but that could be ruined very quickly if war broke out or if too much money and/or valuables were used to pay off their enemies. No, paying off the Southern Isles and Weselton would not work; Arendelle could easily be taken advantage of then, and it also would not guarantee a victory either; it would just postpone the inevitable. Elsa knew that Arendelle's small army and navy definitely would not hold off the Southern Isles and Weselton, and she had no desire to engage her kingdom in war in the first place. Who knew how many people would be killed? _Wait, if they think I'm this tyrannical ruler trying to take over the world by force with ice and snow, maybe I can use that to my advantage!_ she thought. _If the king of the Southern Isles bothered to say that in his letter, then that means he's scared of me. _A simple, albeit risky, plan entered her mind. She could outwit them at their own game! If she played her cards right, Arendelle wouldn't have to go to war at all. She quickly scrawled a map of the streets in Arendelle, marking places where she assumed the enemy armies would gather. The enemy navies obviously had to enter the fjord; there was no other water gateway to Arendelle. Arendelle's castle was like a fortress jutting out into the fjord; easy to defend because any lookouts could see in all directions. Elsa smiled, pleased with her plan. Now she just needed to make a public announcement to her people so no one would think she was going all out of control again when she put up their defenses.


	11. Chapter 10-Day Seven, Part 2

Chapter 10-Day Seven, Part 2

At breakfast a few minutes later, a stunned Anna listened to Elsa's plan. "Are you sure that's going to work, Elsa?"

"I'm fairly certain it will. At least, Arendelle will have a far better chance of winning than if we engaged in traditional battle," Elsa said. "Remember that ice bubble? It was completely impermeable. A coat of ice like that on every home in Arendelle will keep all our people safe, as long as they stay indoors for the duration. All the streets will be iced over, so they'll be very slippery to anyone but me, just in case the armies manage to get past my icicle walls I will put up here, here, and here," she pointed to several spots on her scrawled map. "Oh yes, and I think a very cold, biting temperature is in order the second they're in sight. I'll freeze all the navy ships in place in the fjord, so they'll run out of supplies and such, too."

"Well, it sounds like it will probably work," Anna said doubtfully. "Won't it be dangerous for you though?"

"A little, but better one person die than hundreds," Elsa replied. "Besides, I should be fine. Most of our ice defenses I'll put up before they even arrive."

"Um, Elsa, what if they arrive before the five days? They could have just said 'five days' so they could attack us unawares earlier," Anna pointed out. "And I just remembered something: Superman's newspaper friends are supposed to be here tomorrow for the interview thing!"

"Good thinking, Anna. With that in mind, we will begin defense preparations immediately. I would have preferred not to have the interview with all this going on, but it can't be helped. We'll just have to be especially accommodating," Elsa said. "I'm done eating; let's start by icing over the castle walls. That should bring people over to see what it's all about. By the way, thank you for breakfast, Gerda." She stood up and turned to leave the dining hall with Anna.

"You're welcome. Please take it easy, Queen Elsa. Your ankle isn't completely better yet, you know," Gerda said.

"Gerda, my ankle is the _least_ of our problems right now. It's fine," Elsa said, making an unsuccessful attempt not to limp as she and Anna headed out of the dining hall. As soon as they were out of earshot, she told Anna, "I wish Gerda would leave me alone about my stupid ankle! I mean, it still hurts a _little_ bit when I'm walking on it, but it's mostly fine."

Anna giggled at Elsa's obvious annoyance. "I find it hard to believe it only hurts a 'little bit', 'cause you have a really bad limp, Elsa!"

"I do?"

"Yeah! You're walking like this," Anna replied, mimicking Elsa's uneven gait.

"I am not either walking like that!" Elsa protested.

"Are too!"

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"Oh, all right, never mind," Elsa ended the debate as she and Anna went out into the courtyard. Elsa closed her eyes in concentration and made two fists. Opaque, dark-colored ice spread over the walls surrounding the castle and courtyard in a few seconds. "Did it work?"

"Yep! Look for yourself, Elsa!"

Elsa opened her eyes and smiled in satisfaction. "Great. Now for the castle itself…" She made a wide sweeping gesture, and the same opaque dark-colored ice spread over the castle's structure as well.

"Uh, Elsa, you put ice on the windows," Anna said. "And it's not the see-through kind…"

"Oh. I'll fix it…just a minute." Elsa pointed a finger at each window, and the ice turned transparent. "All right, that was half of them. I'll have to do the others from outside the castle walls. I have to actually be able to point directly at them to switch types of ice."

"Why didn't you just use the clear or translucent-y blue kind in the first place?"

"Because the dark-colored opaque kind looks a bit more threatening, and our battle plan relies almost entirely on the enemy thinking that I'm some despotic tyrant. Our defenses have to look as intimidating as possible," Elsa explained.

Anna, who had not actually read the two letters, looked horrified. "How on earth did they get that idea?! Oh, wait, I bet I know-that Weaseltown duke guy!"

"That's what I think, too. The duke most likely started a rumor. You remember those things he called me at the coronation. And you know what? I really honestly don't care! We're going to use his lies to our advantage."

They had rounded the bend outside the castle so Elsa could change the ice on the other windows. Already people had begun to gather outside the castle gates, wondering what was going on. By the time Elsa had finished fixing the window ice, there was a large crowd surrounding the gates, and Elsa and Anna had to weave through the crowd to get back inside. After informing the guard at the gate what was going on and to let the people inside the courtyard, they headed back into the castle. Elsa and Anna quickly went out onto the balcony overlooking the courtyard. As soon as the crowd caught sight of Elsa, they began asking questions. Elsa gestured for silence, and everyone quieted down. After explaining that no she wasn't losing control again, and the real reasons for all the ice; everyone seemed satisfied. Elsa also detailed what else would happen over the next few days. "Please stock up on food and water. We don't want anyone starving to death. I have no way to know how long Arendelle's enemies will persist in keeping us under siege. And under siege will they try, since I plan to make it as difficult as possible for them to even enter our kingdom." She paused, and then added, "All things indicate that they will not arrive for several days, so go about business as usual in the meantime. Your warning for taking cover will be this." Elsa made one huge, dramatic snowflake in the sky that could be seen for miles around, and then dissolved it. "Ten minutes after my signal, the weather will take a turn for the worse. I am quite certain everyone knows what that means." Most of the crowd nodded and smiled in reply. "That is all. Thank you for listening." Elsa turned and went back inside, hoping nobody noticed her limping. She didn't feel like explaining how that had happened right now. Anna followed right behind.

"Do you think everyone understood what is going on?" Elsa asked the moment the balcony doors were shut. "And did anyone notice me walking funny?"

"Yeah, I think you explained things great. And I really don't think anyone noticed you limping, and even if they did, so what? It's not a big deal," Anna said.

"I don't particularly want to explain exactly how my ankle got hurt. Plus, me limping doesn't exactly help our 'Elsa's a despotic tyrant!' aura any. There could have been a spy in that crowd for all we know."

"In which case we're already sunk because you definitely did not act like a despotic tyrant during your speech," Anna remarked. "And you kind of announced part of our battle plan, too."

"What was I supposed to do? I had to let everyone know what was going on!"

"I know. By the way, when are you going to put up the other defense things you told me about? I kinda think we should wait till after the interview tomorrow, don't you think?" Anna asked.

"I'm going to erect our other defenses the moment our guests for the interview leave. Having the castle walls covered with all that ice isn't very welcoming, and the more defenses that are up while they're here, the worse it will look. I want our enemies to be threatened, not our guests or the citizens in the United States that will read that newspaper the interview appears in," Elsa said. "Come on, Anna, let's go to the library. I want to look up some things about possible battle tactics that Weselton and the Southern Isles may use."

"Why? Isn't the plan you came up with enough?"

"I think so, but I would rather be overprepared than underprepared. You don't have to read it if you don't want to."

"Oh, all right."

* * *

><p>They headed to the castle library, where Elsa found the book she wanted, settled herself on the sofa, and was quickly engrossed in her reading. But she didn't learn anything that she hadn't known already. "This wasn't helpful. All this says is that Weselton is known for its army and the Southern Isles for its navy. And that both have a tendency to employ cannons and siege attacks. Which is fine since we are essentially preparing for a siege anyway…"<p>

Anna, who had been pacing around the room while Elsa read, had some ideas of her own. "You know, Elsa, I was thinking…you just said that they'll use cannons. Cannons are metal. So…is it possible for you to freeze the metal so cold the cannons will crack and break? They'd be useless then."

"Yes, but…it takes a while. And it's hard to do," Elsa said, frowning as she remembered the only time she'd ever broken anything metal by doing what Anna had described. "Well, maybe it wouldn't take so long now since I'd actually be controlling what I was doing. Come on, let's go find some scrap metal from the garbage and test it. If it works, then it will work on any metal weapons, which would be terrific."

"Uh, Elsa, when did you ever freeze and break something metal?" Anna asked, curious. "It must have been…before, because I don't remember you doing that."

"Don't want to talk about it." Elsa stood up and left the library without looking at Anna.

"Hey, wait up! Sorry, we don't have to talk about…whatever it is. Do you want me to get the scrap metal so you don't have to walk all the way downstairs again?" Anna said in a rush as she easily caught up to Elsa in the hallway.

"All right. I'm going to go in my room then while you do that. And, um…sorry for clamming up on you like that. I just don't want to remember that stuff anymore," Elsa apologized.

"It's fine; don't apologize. I'll be right back!" Anna dashed off, leaving Elsa standing in front of the door to her room.

Five minutes later, Anna burst into Elsa's room without knocking. Elsa was sitting on her bed, looking carefully at the map she'd drawn earlier marking possible battle positions. "I got several pieces! Here they are," she said, and dumped the armload of metal scraps on Elsa's lap.

"Anna! What did you do that for?! That stuff is all dirty," Elsa sounded cross as she got up and set the metal scraps on the hearth of the fireplace (which, thankfully, did _not_ have a fire going in it). She brushed her dress and hands off, then said, "Ok, let's try this then." She and Anna knelt by the hearth.

"Try this one first," Anna suggested, handing Elsa the smallest piece.

"All right, here goes…" Elsa squeezed the metal with one hand, trying to make its internal temperature drop. Frost spread over the metal from the center out. "Now let's see if it's brittle enough to snap. You try, Anna."

"Why me?" Anna took the metal scrap from Elsa. "Ack, take it back! That thing is crazy cold!" Elsa tried to take the scrap back, but the metal had stuck fast to Anna's warm hand.

"Oh, great. Hold on a second; I'll thaw it," Elsa replied quickly. She melted the ice and frost, and Anna was able to get her hand unstuck from the metal.

"Good grief, don't ask me to try that again," Anna said as she rubbed her cold hand, trying to warm it up. "Besides, if you have to actually touch the metal to break it, this is useless, because you're not going to be able to get close enough to their cannons to disable them that way."

"True. Let's try it another way." Elsa set the scrap on the floor. She blasted the metal with intensely cold air and ice. The metal's internal temperature plummeted, but also adhered to the floor as ice and frost spread around it. Elsa poked at the metal with her finger. "All right, so that didn't work either. It's adhered to the floor, so I have no idea if the thing's brittle and cracked or not." She sighed, and dissipated the ice. "Let's go, take three. I'm going to try something different this time, so Anna, please scoot away. I don't want to hit you instead of the metal." Anna scooted a few feet over. Elsa chose the largest metal scrap and held it up at arm's length with one hand while she blasted frigid air and ice at it with the other. A few seconds later, she stopped blasting the metal and poked at it gently with one finger. The metal made a crackling sound at her touch. Elsa poked it a little harder. The metal cracked and easily broke in two leaving jagged edges in both places. "It works! You were right, Anna!"

"Really?! Can I come closer now?"

"Yes on both questions! Look!" Elsa held up the two halves of the metal scrap.

"Awesome! You know, there are some bigger, thicker metal pieces in the garbage that were too big to bring up here. Do you want to try it on one of those?" Anna said.

"Yes, I do. Let's go. I also want to see how exact I can make my aim when I'm blasting at it, because that will be important if I do this with actual cannons."

* * *

><p>They headed downstairs to the scrap heap, Elsa carefully making her way downstairs, while Anna kept running a little ahead and then back to Elsa impatiently. "Come on, Elsa, why can't we just slide down the banister? That way you wouldn't have to walk down the stairs at all!"<p>

"Because the times that I've slid down, I crashed at the bottom, and Gerda is down at the bottom of the stairs dusting, and I don't want her to see me doing something like that again."

"Then make another ice ramp like you did before."

"_No._ Anna, please let me be. I can walk downstairs fine; I'm just a little slow because of my dumb ankle," Elsa said.

"Oh, all right."

They finally reached the bottom of the staircase, where Gerda asked them what they were doing. When Elsa explained, Gerda insisted that she go sit in the parlor and that Kai would bring the metal inside. Before either Elsa or Anna could say a word, Gerda steered them into the parlor and told them to please wait a moment and bustled out of the room. "Gerda, please wait! It's fine-I want to do it outside anyway. That metal is dirty; don't bring it in here…" Elsa privately did a face palm when she realized that Gerda didn't hear her. "Come on, Anna, let's go on out to the scrap heap." She and Anna left the parlor and headed out to the scrap heap and ran into Kai carrying the heavy metal on the way. "Thank you, Kai, but I would really appreciate if you carried that thing back outside," Elsa said.

"What? Gerda just told me you said you wanted me to bring this thing in here," Kai replied, struggling to hold on to the heavy scrap metal.

"Well, I didn't. Please take that dirty old thing back outside." Elsa was getting exasperated. She elbowed Anna and whispered, "Can you please 'help' him take that thing outside?"

Kai and Anna took the metal back outside and set it down. "Thank you," Elsa said. Kai went back inside, leaving Elsa and Anna in front of the scrap pile. "Good grief, Anna, that was aggravating!" Elsa sighed and stepped back from the metal. "Now let's do this." She blasted the metal that had been carried back outside, as she'd done with the smaller scrap upstairs. "It worked again!" Elsa said as she tested whether the metal was brittle enough to crack by tapping on it.

Anna snickered at the thought of Elsa cracking all the enemy cannons. "Elsa, just imagine what they'll think when you do that to all their weapons!"

"I guess it IS sort of funny," Elsa agreed. "But don't laugh yet! Wait till this whole thing is over first!" She tried to yank another large metal piece out of the scrap pile. "Anna, can you help me get this out and drag it over to the wall? I want to see if I can blast the metal without hitting the wall too." Anna obliged, and they both pulled at the metal as hard as they could.

"I…don't…think…it's…coming…out!" Anna's voice sounded strained as they continued trying to pull the piece out.

Suddenly the metal jerked out of the pile and flew over their heads, landing with a loud crash…right next to the wall. "Well, I guess we won't have to drag it all the way over there now," Elsa remarked.

"Uh, Elsa, what if you DO hit the wall? We don't want that to crack…" Anna said.

"It won't matter because I already iced over the wall for defense purposes, remember? If I miss, there will just be an extra layer of ice in that area." Elsa moved farther away from the metal and stood against the opposite wall. "I'm going to try it from here, so Anna, please don't stand in front of me."

Anna moved and started asking Elsa questions about what, exactly, she was doing; how it worked; and wouldn't it be funny if Anna had some liquid nitrogen so she could do the same thing.

"Anna, _please._ I can't concentrate with you chattering at me!" Elsa said as she missed the metal entirely for the fourth time. "Look at all that extra ice, snow, and frost all over the wall and ground over there, and _none_ of it hit where it was supposed to. Guess who has to clean all that up when we're finished."

"Sor-ry," Anna said, not sounding very sorry at all, although she did stop talking.

"Take five…" Elsa frowned in concentration and sent her strongest blast at the metal at the opposite wall. A few seconds later, the whole metal piece shattered completely, sending small, deathly cold shards flying in all directions; and a small cloud of something that looked like fog appeared where the metal piece used to be. Elsa and Anna both stared in disbelief. One of the shards landed in Elsa's still outstretched hand. Elsa examined the shard closely. What had made it, well, explode, like that instead of simply cracking? Elsa noticed that the shard's temperature seemed much, much colder to the touch than the scrap she'd broken in half upstairs earlier. Holding the shard did not bother Elsa, but she could still detect its significantly lower temperature. Could she have sent its temperature somewhere near absolute zero? _No way! It's scientifically impossible to make anything anywhere near absolute zero by ordinary means. But then again… normal ice can never completely impermeable like mine can be either. No, I don't believe it! It just can't be. Besides, a substance at absolute zero would not have shattered at all since it wouldn't have any energy. It would have just acted…_ Elsa suddenly remembered something Anna had been chattering about earlier. _That _sounded a little more logical. And it explained the odd cloud-fog thing, too. "Anna, what was that you were saying before about liquid nitrogen?"

"What?" Anna was looking curiously at the shard Elsa was holding, careful not to touch it.

"You said something about liquid nitrogen earlier, that it would 'let you do the same thing' I was doing."

"Oh, yeah. I read that liquid nitrogen freezes and can break and shatter a whole bunch of different materials, you know, since it's so cold. So if I had some, I could break and shatter the metal, same as you," Anna explained. "Why?"

"I'm just wondering exactly what temperature that makes the metal crack, or in this case, shatter. Do you remember what temperature liquid nitrogen is?"

"Uh… somewhere around -330 degrees Fahrenheit, I think."

"Hmm…" Elsa made her way across to where the cloud thing was quickly dissipating. She noticed that the air temperature dropped significantly as she approached it. _There's no snow in that thing and I'm not doing anything right now, so… _"Don't come over here, Anna. This cloud-fog thing isn't a snow cloud. It's, well, frozen air boiling back into a gas!"

"_What?_ How can air be frozen or turned into a solid or liquid?"

"The same way nitrogen can be a liquid. Air is about 78 percent nitrogen and 21 percent oxygen. So it turns into a liquid at around the temperature as nitrogen alone," Elsa explained as she headed back over to Anna.

"You're telling me you…froze the air?! That's impossible!" Anna was incredulous at the idea of such a thing.

"It is not. I just did," Elsa defended herself and crossed her arms. She thought Anna sounded a bit accusatory. _Great, I just found out I can freeze the very air we're breathing. Not good…if I ever lost control again, I might kill everyone in the vicinity, me included!_

Anna took one look at Elsa's pensive expression and tried to backtrack. "What I mean is, it's weird and sounds impossible, but it's really incredible."

Elsa had latched on to the 'weird' part only. "I am not weird!" But Elsa's mind was saying, _Liar! You are too weird! Turning air to liquid is weird!_

"What? I didn't say that, Elsa! Stop accusing me of saying stuff I didn't say! I think turning air into liquid is really cool, no pun intended," Anna replied. "Hey, can you make an airtight ice container?"

"I don't know, why would I do that?"

"Because if you can, we could store liquid nitrogen in it and you could let me help you disintegrate all their weapons by shooting the liquid nitrogen at them."

Elsa looked thoughtful at Anna's idea. "That would probably work, but where would we get liquid nitrogen?"

Just then, Olaf came up to them and said, "Anna, Kristoff wants to know if you want to have a picnic lunch with him in a few minutes."

"Of course I do!" Anna exclaimed.

Elsa frowned. "Why didn't he come ask Anna himself, Olaf?"

"I don't know. But I heard him tell Sven that he thought you didn't trust him, Elsa," Olaf said.

_Of course I don't trust him anymore! He didn't keep an eye on Anna like he was supposed to! If he'd kept an eye on Anna, that whole Hans fiasco wouldn't have happened!_ Elsa made a face, but said nothing.

"Elsa? I can go, right?" Anna asked.

There was a silence as Elsa thought it over. "Only if you stay in the castle gardens. And don't do anything stupid," Elsa finally decided.

"I'm not a baby! Just what exactly constitutes 'stupid'?"

"Hugging, kissing, that sort of thing. Any sort of even remotely mushy stuff."

"Deal."

* * *

><p>Anna went off to her picnic lunch, leaving Elsa to clean up the mess all over the ground. Shards of metal were everywhere, along with a lot of extra ice, snow, and frost. Elsa dissolved the extra ice, snow, and frost first, then went to work picking up all the shards and tossing them back into the scrap heap. It seemed like it took forever. Finally, everything was cleaned up. Elsa decided she would go back inside because her ankle was starting to bother her again since she'd been walking around all morning; and she felt abnormally tired. Elsa realized that the stronger, more powerful things (i.e., freezing air to liquid) she had been doing with her powers that morning wore her out. <em> I think I'll go see what Anna and Kristoff are doing from an upstairs window.<em> Elsa went inside and headed for the rooms that overlooked the castle gardens. When she reached the foot of the staircase, she tried to make an ice ramp like she'd done before since she didn't want to walk all the way upstairs again, and there was no one around to see her. But the ice that swept partway up the stairs looked bumpy and thin, not smooth and thick. She dissolved the ice and tried again. This time she only made a weak snow flurry that barely reached the first bend of the staircase. Elsa was surprised; she'd never been actually unable to make anything before. On the contrary, she used to make things involuntarily. _Now that I want to make something, I can't. How ironic. _Elsa gave up and climbed upstairs. She sat down in a window seat overlooking the castle gardens and looked outside. Sure enough, there were Anna and Kristoff having their picnic. While she watched them, she thought about the oddness of her seeming to run out of energy. She hoped her inability to make anything useful would wear off soon; she _needed_ to use those powers if she was to defend Arendelle. Elsa was jerked out of her thoughts as she noticed Anna giving Kristoff a quick kiss. She opened that window with a bang and stuck her head outside. "What do you think you're doing?!"

Down on the ground, Anna jumped away from Kristoff in surprise. She had immediately recognized Elsa's voice, but couldn't see her sister anywhere. Kristoff asked Anna who she thought had shouted at them. "Who do you think it was? That was my sister!"

"Your sister doesn't like me much, does she?"

"She doesn't trust you because of the whole Hans fiasco. You didn't 'keep an eye on me' like she told you to. But that was mostly my fault, since I was the one bugging you to go on the ice slide," Anna told him. She scanned the bushes surrounding the garden, thinking that perhaps Elsa was hiding in one. Anna shouted, "Come on, Elsa, I know that was you! Where are you hiding?"

"I'm not hiding; I'm sitting up here," Elsa shouted out the window. Elsa wondered if she was able to drop a large snowball out the window on them. Unable to do that, she climbed out the window and sat on the ledge outside, dangling her legs off the edge. She settled for sending a light snow flurry down towards Anna and Kristoff.

Anna finally saw Elsa sitting on the ledge. She was surprised to see Elsa up there; it was usually something Anna did 'just because'. Anna also thought it was strange that Elsa was only making a flurry on them, because she fully expected Elsa to drop a mound of snow judging from the disapproving look on Elsa's face. Not that she was complaining, though! "I thought you didn't like climbing on the roof 'cause it was dangerous!" Anna teased.

"I'm not on the roof," Elsa replied. Although Elsa wasn't scared of heights, she paled at the sight of just how far down the ground was. _Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. If I slip off from up here…_ A noise behind Elsa made her jump, causing her to slip off her shaky perch. She managed to catch hold of the ledge with one hand before falling all the way down. "I can't hold on for much longer!" Elsa said as her grip weakened.

"If she lets go, can you catch her?" Anna asked Kristoff.

"Yeah, but…she's going to be mad if I do," Kristoff said.

"No she won't! She's going to fall from up there!"

"All right."

Sister disagreement forgotten, Anna shouted up at Elsa, "Kristoff will catch you! It's ok to fall!"

"_What?!_ It must be at least thirty feet up here, and you think-" Elsa's sentence was cut short as her hold on the ledge slipped entirely. A second later, Kristoff had easily caught Elsa before she hit the ground. Elsa's face reddened when she realized who was holding her. "Please put me down." She moved back a couple feet the instant her feet touched the ground. "Thanks…for catching me. I…think I misjudged you. You knew I didn't like you and you did that anyway."

"Anyone else would have done the same thing," Kristoff said modestly. "Besides, Anna would have had a fit if I hadn't."

Elsa made a face at his last sentence before regaining her dignified composure. "You know Anna really likes you…I don't mind you two hanging out together, but if I ever catch you doing _anything_ remotely untoward with my sister, it ends immediately. No more kissing. No mushy stuff." _I hope that wasn't too nasty and mean sounding…_

"Got it."

Anna jumped in, "And I thought you should know, Elsa, that what happened with Hans's boat was NOT Kristoff's fault. I made him try the ice slide, and I got tricked onto the boat in those few seconds he wasn't looking. It wasn't Kristoff's fault at all." She paused, and then added, "By the way, you looked awfully miffed when you were sitting up there. Mad enough to drop a pile of snow or something. How come all you were doing was making a snow flurry on us?"

Elsa frowned. "Because I can't do anything else right now! Believe me, if I could have done that, I would have. That turning-air-to-liquid stuff did something to me this morning. I still feel kind of sleepy and lethargic. I think causing those extreme temperatures made me run out of energy to make anything else. That lame flurry is all I can do right now."

"You turned air into liquid?" Kristoff was surprised.

"I did. Not exactly on purpose, but I was testing how to break metal and it just happened along with it," Elsa explained.

"Yeah, Elsa blasted this metal piece and it, like, exploded into a zillion pieces! Then there was this cloud-fog thing, and it turned out to be frozen-ified air boiling back into a gas. You should have seen it! It was awesome," Anna added.

"In other words, you two were experimenting with cryogenics," Kristoff said to Elsa.

"I suppose so. I don't think I'll be doing the liquid air thing again, though. I hope my inability to make anything disappears quickly. I need my powers to defend Arendelle," Elsa replied.

"What's cryogenics?" Anna asked. "And, Elsa, maybe taking a nap would fix the problem."

"Cryogenics is the branch of physics dealing with the production and effects of very low temperatures," Elsa and Kristoff recited the standard 'dictionary definition' simultaneously.

"Oh, I remember now. I forgot," Anna said. "Oops."

"Well, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go inside now for my own lunch," Elsa said. _And I think I will take Anna's advice to take a nap,_ she added to herself. She turned and headed back inside the castle, leaving Anna and Kristoff to finish their interrupted picnic.

**A/N: Sorry if I bugged anyone with the little physics interlude.:P (if there are any errors, please tell me:)) I have no idea if Elsa would be able to do that or not with her powers, but I thought it was cool (no pun intendedXD). So, my solution was that Elsa CAN freeze the air, but it makes her tired. ****(I mean, just low a temperature can she make? We know she can break metal because she escaped from that cell in the movie. And you need CRAZY low temperatures to break metal like that in real life...so I took that piece of info and ran with it.:)**


	12. Chapter 11-Day Seven, Part 3

**A/N: **

**princessdianaofparadiseisland: Thanks for the review, sis.:P Yeah, I agree; Elsa and Anna are definitely better at chess than you. (hinthint do you want to practice with me sometime? 'Cause I'm no expert either.:)) Ok, I'll keep the 'queen business' in mind for Elsa. She does have to deal with the Southern Isles and Weselton soon though, remember? Does that count?:)**

**Question for everyone besides my sister, lol: Is there a reason why this isn't getting followed/favorited/reviewed? Is it the somewhat AU premise or what? Do you think someone is acting out of character? I don't mind if you dislike my story; I'm just curious why. Maybe it's something I can improve and/or change.:)**

Chapter 11-Day Seven, Part 3

That evening during dinner in the dining hall, Anna couldn't resist ribbing Elsa about her fall. "That's what you get for spying on me! We weren't even doing anything!"

"Anna, will you please be quiet? And what do you mean 'not doing anything'? I saw you two kissing, for goodness sakes! Can't we talk about this later?" Elsa couldn't wait for that meal to end. Any second now, Gerda would realize what they were talking about, and Elsa would never hear the end of it. Elsa added in a whisper, "Anna, you are _so_ asking to find a pile of snow in your bed or something." (Elsa's powers were back to normal after her nap that afternoon.)

"Oh, come on, it was a little peck on the cheek. You make it sound like we were making goo-goo eyes at each other for an hour or something," Anna said. "Besides, if you hadn't been spying on us, you wouldn't have seen us at all. And tumbled right off the roof!"

"Well, it was one peck too much. Don't do that anymore. And I was not sitting on the roof when I fell." Elsa's food suddenly became a very interesting thing to study when she realized Gerda was right next to her.

"You _fell_ off the roof earlier, Miss Elsa?" Gerda asked.

"Yeah, she did! Kristoff and I were having a picnic in the garden and Elsa was spying on us from an upstairs window. Then she climbed out on the ledge and she slipped off! And Kristoff caught her when she fell." Anna was only too pleased to recount what happened.

"Is that really true?" Gerda asked Elsa.

"I believe I shall retire for the evening," a red-faced Elsa said stiffly as she stood up and left the dining hall.

"Don't you want dessert?" Anna called after her.

"No, thank you."

When Elsa finally arrived upstairs, she tiptoed inside Anna's room and left a pile of snow inside the foot of Anna's bed. Then she headed to her own room and got ready for bed. Elsa climbed into bed with her ice lap desk, a pen, and her unfinished plans for the Annual Crocus Festival. Ten minutes later, Elsa heard Anna's footsteps in the hall. She strained her ears to hear Anna's reaction when she found Elsa's little surprise. Elsa didn't have to wait long. She heard Anna squeal, and then her footsteps dashing down the hall to Elsa's room. Anna marched into Elsa's room and stood with her hands on her hips in the middle of the room. "There's _snow_ in my bed!" Anna said indignantly.

"And….your point is?"

"You put it there!"

"Who, me?" Elsa asked innocently.

"Yeah, you! Nobody but you makes snow in the summer!"

"I told you downstairs I was going to do that if you kept talking about this afternoon," Elsa said. "You embarrassed me, in case you didn't realize."

"I thought you were kidding! Anyways, you had your fun. Can you please get rid of it now?"

"Yes." Elsa got up and limped down the hall to Anna's room. She waved her hand at the snow and it disappeared. "Ok, Anna, it's gone now. Happy? And by the way, I also was not kidding when I said I wanted to 'discuss this later'. Can we talk now?"

"Sure, but discuss what?" Anna said as she and Elsa headed back to Elsa's room.

"I think you know what."

Anna began matching her steps exactly with Elsa's limping ones.

"Will you please stop copying the way I'm walking? I'm not limping on purpose!"

"Why?"

"Because it makes me feel self-conscious. Please stop," Elsa said as they entered Elsa's room.

"So…discussion time, I suppose?" Anna said as she plopped into the comfy chair in the corner.

"Yes," Elsa replied as she sat down on her bed.

"I'll start, then. Why were you spying on me?" Anna asked.

"Because I was worried about you! I didn't trust Kristoff to be alone with you. And Anna, did you realize you left me with that huge mess to clean up when you ran off to your picnic?"

"Oh. About the mess, I thought you _wanted_ to clean it up yourself, since you were all 'don't touch the metal stuff!' since it was so cold. And, well, I also really honest to goodness forgot, too," Anna said. "I've got a question for you: why did you climb out on the roof like that? I've never seen you do that before."

"So I could drop the snow flurry on you," Elsa giggled. "And I was not on the roof-I was out on the ledge. Now you know why I said climbing around up there was dangerous though. If Kristoff hadn't caught me, I'd probably be dead or at least seriously injured right now." She shuddered at the thought. "Good grief, I was so stupid to try that…"

"You're not stupid! I've climbed out there lots of times and never fallen. Scrapes and such, yeah, but not falling. You just need to practice climbing around on something lower first. Have you ever, say, climbed a tree?" Anna asked.

"Sure I did, when I was…little. Before I was eight," Elsa said hesitantly. "There weren't many trees to climb in my room after…that. Not that I really thought about wanting to since I was all panicky and freaked out constantly." Elsa looked down and clasped her hands together.

Anna felt like kicking herself for making Elsa think of that. She knew Elsa was getting upset because Elsa did the hand-clasping thing whenever she became upset. "Well," Anna said, trying to snap Elsa out of her thoughts, "you can just start practicing climbing trees now instead."

"What? I can't just go and randomly start climbing trees outside! It's not dignified, and I'm not a little kid," Elsa said.

_Good, she's not thinking about bad memories anymore,_ Anna thought. "Spying on me wasn't dignified either!" she announced.

"Well, you got me there," Elsa agreed. "I am still not going to go tree-climbing, though!" She paused and then added, "I _will,_ however, go out on the ledge with you sometime. But I'm going to make a ton of powdery snow below us so it won't matter if we fall."

Anna began laughing uncontrollably.

"What did I say that's so hilarious?" Elsa asked.

"Nothing! I was just thinking it would be a total scream if we greeted our guests for the interview tomorrow from one of the ledges outside the front windows that overlook the courtyard. We could say, 'Hello and welcome to Arendelle! Would you care to join us at great heights?' " Anna said in a goofy tone of voice.

"Don't even think about it! No way no how am I greeting guests from atop one of those ledges. It's not safe and no one will take me seriously if I'm monkeying about up there. Not to mention I don't trust myself up there anyway."

"You said you'd climb up there with me!"

"Not to greet guests, I didn't. And I also don't want to climb up there till I quit limping all the time. That makes me even less sure-footed than I would probably be anyway."

"Well, let me know when, because I can't wait!"

"All right. Oh, Anna, I just remembered-would you like to help with the plans for the Annual Crocus Festival?"

"Yeah! I already have one super awesome idea-you should make an ice-ride for everybody to go on. That was, like, epic!" Anna said.

"I thought of that, but how would it be 100 percent safe? I would have to be actually riding it every second it was running to be sure it was safe, and I can't do that," Elsa answered. "Here, look at what I planned so far." She handed her festival plan notes to Anna.

"Purple & yellow banner décor. Go ice skating in courtyard. Serve BBQ chicken, ice cream, milk, grape juice, NOT wine," Anna read Elsa's shorthand notes aloud. "Boy, I should hope you don't plan to serve wine! That stuff is gross! And…ahem…people go and pig out on it and then act like idiots. I don't know why people think it's this oh-so-sophisticated beverage!"

"Well, I wouldn't have said it those exact terms, but I agree. I probably _should_ serve wine though, at least a little, because it's just something you're supposed to have at an event like this. This year's Annual Crocus Festival is already going to be a bit unconventional what with me being around…we don't need to accentuate that any more than necessary. Maybe I shouldn't do the ice skating thing again, either."

"Elsa, what on earth is that supposed to mean? If you don't want wine, then don't serve it. You're the queen; you get to decide what drinks are served. And what's wrong with ice skating?"

"It's not the ice skating that's wrong; it's _me._ Look at me, Anna!" Elsa made a snowflake that hovered over her palm and held it out to Anna. "Do you know anyone else that can make ice and snow out of thin air? Of course not! I liquidified air earlier today for goodness sakes. I'm _abnormal! _ Why bring attention to it? And Anna…I haven't attended the Annual Crocus Festival since I was eight. I could be planning this whole thing wrong for all I know."

Anna noticed Elsa had started to do the clasping hands thing again. "Elsa, stop berating yourself. Don't let me catch you ever, EVER calling yourself 'abnormal' again. That is stupid, and you know it. Your powers make you unique in a good way, not 'abnormal'. And quite honestly, if defending Arendelle from war isn't bringing attention to it, I don't know what is."

Elsa quit looking at her hands and stared at Anna. Anna was right; that _did _make sense. And did Elsa really want to hide away again forever? No, she did not. If she wasn't going to hide, then she might as well show what she could do. With this logic, Elsa's countenance brightened, and she and Anna went back to the festival plans. "All right then, no wine, and we can go ice skating. And if I'm planning this all wrong from how it is usually done, then Arendelle is just going to have some all-new traditions for the festival."

"Great!" Anna agreed. "Hey, I know what else we should do! We should have contests and stuff. Like running races, swimming races, and other things like that. And you and me should perform something and have a concert. You could sing and play the piano; and I could sing or play violin!"

"I like your swimming and running race ideas." Elsa added those ideas to the plans. "But I am not singing or playing piano in public! Why don't you just do a solo concert instead?"

"That's no fun. I thought we could do a duet thing. And why don't you want to perform anyway? I've heard you play piano in the library, and it sounds great. And you sound so nice when you sing," Anna said.

Elsa was surprised at Anna's comments about her singing. When had Anna heard her sing? Elsa only liked to sing when she thought she was alone. She'd sung her heart out up on the North Mountain a month ago. Anna definitely had not heard her then. And…oh yeah, Elsa also liked singing in her room when she thought no one was around. Anna must have been eavesdropping outside her door one of those times. "Anna, you wouldn't know that I can even sing at all unless you've been eavesdropping outside my door sometime."

Anna evaded Elsa's statement by saying, "You sang when I came to your ice palace up on the North Mountain."

"Oh, don't remind me. That was awful." Elsa's face fell at the memory, and the temperature in the room started to drop. "What did I even say? 'Just stay away and you'll be safe from me'? 'There's so much fear'? 'I can't!'? Yeah, that was just a terrific song, Anna-not!"

"Uh, ok, never mind," Anna said hurriedly. "Forget I even brought it up. I admit it-I've eavesdropped on you! I've heard you sing in your room when you thought no one was listening."

Elsa wasn't paying attention; she'd started clasping hands again.

"Elsa, Elsa, stop that! That's like the third time you've done that since we started talking!" Anna said.

"Hmm? Done what?"

"That thing where you look down and start clasping your hands together. You do it every time you get upset," Anna told her.

"Oh… Well, I'll try to stop." Elsa finally noticed the lower temperature in her room. "Evidently I made it cooler in here this time, too. Oops." The temperature rose back to normal. "All right, so about the concert idea…I'm officially vetoing that as of the moment. But I'll think about it."

"Ok."

"By the way, I'm going to go down to the fjord early tomorrow morning before breakfast to make the landing strip/runway thing. Superman's newspaper friends aren't supposed to arrive until two in the afternoon, but I want to be ready early, just in case. Do you want to come with me?"

"Not before breakfast, I don't. Too early!"

"Oh. All right. Well, since I have to get up early, I'm going to go to sleep now. Good night, Anna," Elsa said.

"Elsa, do you mind if I stay in here with you?" Anna asked.

"Of course not. I don't mind at all. As long as you don't talk to me all night long," Elsa teased good-naturedly. "Good night, Anna."

"Good night, Elsa."


	13. Chapter 12-Day Eight, Part 1

**A/N: This chapter's kinda short, so I'll go ahead and post the next one too.:)**

**princessdianaofparadiseisland-Ok, sis. You're sillyXD Elsa IS the queen; she does have the authority to do that. Sorry, little sis!;) Besides, I really didn't think Elsa was being bossy anyway...:P Hmm, hadn't thought about the singing thing, but it kinda makes sense. But I'm taking those scenes at face value, that they really were singing. IDK...could go either way, I guess...:P:)**

**mverreault334915-Yay, a review that's not from my sister!XD (no offense, sis;)) I'm glad you're enjoying it.:)**

Chapter 12-Day Eight, Part 1

Early the next morning, Elsa headed down to the fjord. She walked down to the end of the dock and stepped off right onto the water, letting a sheet of ice form under her steps. She went about a dozen feet farther out into the fjord, leaving an icy path behind her. Elsa didn't know how big a landing strip/runway was supposed to be, but she figured it would have to be much longer than it was wide. Hoping she was guessing correctly, she sent a sheet of ice about thirty feet wide and eight hundred feet long spreading far out into the fjord. Then she went back to the castle for breakfast and headed straight to the dining hall. Anna was already sitting at the table.

"Hi, Elsa!" Anna greeted her as Elsa sat down. "Did you already make the landing strip AKA runway?"

"Yes. I hope it's big enough; I don't know what the dimensions of a regular landing strip should be."

"I'm sure it is. Even if it's not, it wouldn't be too hard to make it bigger, would it?"

"I don't think so. Anyway, I suppose we'll know in a few hours," Elsa said. Anna's expression told Elsa that she was up to something. "And no funny business."

"Such as…?"

"Like climbing out on the ledges out front, announcing embarrassing things, and other things of that nature."

"Aw, no fair," Anna said.

"And on a more serious note, I would prefer if you didn't tell them about what I did yesterday with the air. It might scare our guests, because honestly it's rather strange and bizarre. There's already the ice on the walls and castle that needs to be explained."

"I promise I won't say anything about that," Anna said seriously. Anna relished the idea of pulling a silly prank on their visitors (like greeting them from up on a ledge), but she didn't want to make Elsa uncomfortable during the interview either. Elsa still wasn't particularly fond of socializing all that much, even though she wasn't scared of hurting those around her anymore. She would do so if need be, but she was perfectly happy letting Anna do all the 'small talk'.

"Thank you, Anna. By the way, do you think it's even safe for the airplane to land on the ice runway? It IS ice, so it's going to be slippery…Well, not to me, but the airplane might land and slide out of control or something."

"Maybe airplanes just land straight down and stop in one place," Anna suggested.

"I don't think so-it is called a 'RUNway' after all. I surmise that term means the airplane will land and move down the runway to slow down and stop. Hence it will be 'running' down the runway."

"So now what? There is no other place for an airplane to land in Arendelle," Anna said.

"I have no idea. I could probably freeze the airplane to bring it to a stop if all else fails, I suppose. But depending on how fast it's moving, that would make a nasty jolt to everyone inside the airplane. I think I should go down to the fjord and stay there until our guests arrive though, just in case," Elsa replied.

"Can I come with you?"

"Sure! Just let me go upstairs and change my dress first," Elsa said. "I'm finished with breakfast."

"Uh, what's wrong with the dress you've got on?" Anna asked. "That one's pretty."

Elsa looked down at the steel blue long-sleeve dress she was wearing. "Well, for one thing, this is making me hot. And it's not nice enough to go meet guests in."

"Oh. I'd agree with the too hot, but it looks plenty fancy enough to me. May I help you pick something else out?" Anna asked as she and Elsa headed upstairs.

"There's nothing for you to pick out. I'm just going to put on my ice dress," Elsa said.

"Again? That dress is awesome, but you wear it _all the time_! You have a closetful of other dresses; why don't you wear a different one?"

"Anna, in case you hadn't noticed, most of the dresses in my closet are heavy winter ones. You know, because I wouldn't wear anything else before. And the few summery ones I do have are too casual. Besides, I like my ice dress," Elsa said.

"You could borrow one of mine," Anna suggested as they entered Elsa's room. "We're practically the same size, except that you're a little taller than I am. I know the perfect one I have for you!" Without waiting for Elsa's reply, she ran down the hall to her own room, rummaged through her messy closet for the dress she was looking for, and came back. "Here, Elsa! How about this one?" Anna held up a light mint green tea-length dress with cap sleeves and a twirly skirt.

Elsa turned away from her closet and looked at the dress Anna was holding. "Thank you, Anna, it's really pretty, but I think that color is going to make me look sick…I'm already really pale."

"Can you just humor me and try it on anyway? Please?"

"Oh, all right." Elsa took the dress into the bathroom adjoining her room and put it on. She looked in the mirror; the light mint color washed out her pale complexion just as she thought it would. "Come on, Anna, this looks terrible!" Elsa said as she came out to show Anna. "I look ill, like I'm green and about to throw up or something!"

"Weeell…" Anna had to admit it; that was definitely not Elsa's best color. "Lemme get you some different dresses to try."

"Anna, I need to get down to the fjord soon. I don't have time to try on a million dresses! I'll just put on my ice dress, like I said I was going to." Elsa paused, and then added since Anna looked a little disappointed, "Wait, I have an idea. I'll copy the design of this dress and make another ice one. That way I'm still sort of wearing one of yours."

"Ok! I can't wait to see it!"

Elsa disappeared into the bathroom and came back a minute later. "What do you think, Anna?" She was wearing a shimmering blue dress that had the exact same basic design as Anna's mint one did. Elsa had incorporated her own twist on the embellishments of the dress by adding tiny ice crystals along the neckline and the skirt hem.

"Whoa, Elsa, that's a million times better than the mint one!" Anna said. "It's so sparkly! Twirl around!"

Elsa obliged and spun around to make the skirt bell out. "This dress also doesn't have anything to potentially trip over or catch on something behind me. And it's ever so slightly less fancy than my original ice dress, so it's probably better for everyday. I love it! Thank you for letting me copy your dress design, Anna."

"You're welcome. By the way, what did you do with my mint dress? And are you going to wear those ice high heel shoes you made today?"

"It's right here." Elsa handed the mint dress back to Anna. "And no, I'm not wearing those. They would probably make me trip or something since I still limp a little when I walk."

Anna dug around in Elsa's closet and found a pair of white flats Elsa hadn't even realized she owned. "How about these?"

"Those will be perfect after I make one little change." Elsa slipped the shoes on and made one of her signature snowflakes on the toe of each one. "How's that? If I do say so myself, I think this looks perfect. Well, except for that," she pointed to the bandage on her ankle. "That is just yelling, 'look at me!' and not in a good way. I don't want to have to answer 'what happened to you?' all day long."

"Aw, come on, nobody cares. You look fine. If someone does ask, just say you twisted it a few days ago and don't give any other details. That _is_ the truth," Anna said.

"Well…I guess that will work. Come on Anna, let's go down to the fjord now," Elsa replied.

They headed down to the fjord to await their guests.


	14. Chapter 13-Day Eight, Part 2

Chapter 13-Day Eight, Part 2

When they arrived at the fjord, the first thing Elsa noticed was that there was an actual line of people waiting to go down her ice slide. (She hadn't melted it from when she'd made it, so there it stayed.) "Anna, look! There are people waiting in line for the slide!" Elsa was surprised; she had assumed that no one would be interested in it.

"Yeah, I know. No fair! I wanted to go on it again-I don't want to wait. Hey, I'm the princess, does that mean I can cut in line?" Anna said.

"Absolutely not! You want to go on the slide, you wait in line with everyone else. Besides, you're wearing nice clothes today. Don't go swimming in the fjord in that," Elsa replied.

"It's just water!"

"Right-_dirty_ water. You'll get stains on your dress. If you really want to go in the fjord, why don't you change and come back?" Elsa suggested. "Just make sure you're ready for the interview at two o'clock, please."

"Good idea. Be right back!" Anna ran off.

Elsa walked down to the end of the dock and slipped off her shoes. She sat down so she could dip her toes in the water. Elsa swished her feet back and forth in the water absentmindedly. _Maybe I didn't need to come down here so early. _

Anna came back from changing her clothes a few minutes later and ran back to the fjord barefoot and in her bathing suit. She saw Elsa sitting at the end of the dock and thought it would be funny to sneak up on her. Anna loved a good joke! She tiptoed up behind Elsa and tapped her on the shoulder. "I'M BACK!"

Elsa jumped out of her skin and nearly fell into the fjord, accidentally making a thin sheen of ice on the dock around where she was sitting. "What?! Oh, Anna, it's you. Don't sneak up on me like that!"

Anna hopped from one bare foot to the other. "Elsa, the ice! The ice! It's cold! Get rid of it!" she squealed.

Everyone by the ice slide looked to see what was making all the squealing. Was that Princess Anna and Queen Elsa over there?

Elsa noticed the people staring. "Anna, hush up! Everyone's looking at us!" She dissolved the ice on the dock and stood up, shoes in hand. "Next time don't startle me like that and you won't be standing on thin ice," Elsa added with a straight face.

Anna stopped jumping about and started laughing. Had her sister just made a pun? She must have, Anna decided, because Elsa was biting her lip to keep from laughing. "That was hysterical! Elsa, do you want to go on the slide with me?"

"What do you think I'm going to say, Anna? No, I do not want to go on the slide right now. You go ahead." Elsa realized that some of the people had come over, and were eavesdropping on their conversation. She raised her voice slightly to say, "Nothing of interest here! Carry on!"

The small crowd that had gathered immediately dispersed back over to the slide at Elsa's comment. "Boy, I wish I had that much influence to get everyone to listen to me just like that!" Anna said.

"Well, if you're going to go on the slide, you had better do it soon. It's probably going on near noon, judging from the sun," Elsa shaded her eyes with her hand as she looked up at the sky.

"I want to go on the slide with you!" Anna said as she pulled a very reluctant Elsa behind her towards the slide. The people in line moved over to let the two of them cut to the front of the line.

"No, no, I'm not going on the slide," Elsa said, pulling her hand away from Anna's grasp. "And Anna, you be nice and wait in line like everyone else!" she added as Anna ran to take advantage of the front-of-the-line privilege.

"Aw, no fair." Anna unwillingly went to the back of the line.

Everyone stared at Elsa. Had the queen really not taken advantage of the right for her and her sister to automatically be first in line?

Elsa suddenly felt all those people's eyes staring at her. _Did I say something wrong? Or do I look funny for some reason?_ Elsa's hand flitted to the platinum braid hanging over her shoulder. Nah, that wasn't it. Maybe it was because she was still barefoot, shoes in hand. _That can't be it; everyone else here isn't wearing shoes either._ Elsa put her shoes back on anyway, just in case. "Feel free to proceed with the fun anytime," she finally said. (Anna loudly sounded her agreement from her spot in line.) Elsa turned and headed far out onto the ice runway in the fjord. Soon she was just a tiny blue glimmer to everyone at the slide. She wanted her "alone time", as Anna liked to call it. Anna didn't understand why Elsa liked to be by herself sometimes-she thought Elsa had had far too much of that before in her room; but as Elsa had put it, 'There's a major difference between being isolated in your room completely terrified and just relaxing by yourself once in a while.' Once Elsa was satisfied she was far enough away that no one could see exactly what she was doing, she took her shoes off and went a bit farther out, oblivious to the coldness of the ice under her feet. She strained her eyes to see the opposite shore of Lake Erie. _That's where Cedar Point is,_ she remembered. All Elsa could see was water, water, water, as far as she could see, though. Suddenly there was a loud whirring and rumbling sound overhead, and a large shadow fell across the fjord. Elsa gave a start before looking up and realizing that their guests had arrived. She stood mesmerized beneath the huge Thing as it descended straight down out of the sky. Although Elsa had known her guests were arriving via flying machine, she hadn't expected it to be so big. Elsa snapped out of her reverie as the pilot yelled, "Miss! You need to move, _now!_ The helicopter is coming in for a landing!" _Helicopter? I thought it was called an airplane!_ Elsa thought. She quickly moved out of the way just in time to avoid being squashed by the helicopter's landing skids as it landed. Elsa heard a somewhat familiar-sounding voice say, "That girl isn't just a miss, she's Queen Elsa!" as the loud whirring and rumbling ceased. Elsa was puzzled at this comment; how would anyone on the airplane-no, wait, helicopter-immediately know who she was? And why did that voice sound familiar?

Elsa watched as three people climbed down out of the helicopter. The pilot stayed onboard the helicopter. The dark-haired female had to be Lois Lane, and the other two males had to be Clark Kent and Jimmy Olsen. The three visitors walked over to where Elsa stood watching. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, Queen Elsa," the taller male said. "My name is Clark Kent."

Elsa did a double take. _That voice again!_ The only person she knew that sounded even remotely similar was Superman. _Well, he probably does have a secret identity,_ she thought. _This gentleman could be him if he weren't wearing glasses and a suit…_ "Likewise. Welcome to Arendelle," she said. She decided to test her hunch. Elsa put out her hand for Mr. Kent to shake and let a film of ice form on her hand as she did so. If Mr. Kent was Superman, he wouldn't react to touching the cold ice. If Mr. Kent was not Superman, he would probably jerk his hand away in surprise.

There was no reaction whatsoever when Mr. Kent shook her hand. Elsa wished she could have more solid proof, but she didn't want to blow his cover by asking. Obviously, he did not wish Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen to know, so Elsa said nothing. Elsa was quite experienced with trying to keep major secrets that no one was supposed to know, so she didn't want to reveal secrets that its owner didn't wish to expose. She just hoped Anna wouldn't make the connection between Superman and Mr. Kent, because Anna would be sure to blab it all over the place.

"Shall we head to shore?" Elsa asked her visitors politely. "My sister, Princess Anna, would love to meet you before we have the interview." _I hope Anna went back to the castle to change out of her bathing suit by now…_

"We'd love to," Lois Lane said.

* * *

><p>Elsa began to lead the way back to the dock. "May I ask why you landed so far from the dock?"<p>

"The helicopter's engine ran out of fuel," Ms. Lane replied. "We hoped that perhaps you might have some we could borrow?"

"I'm not sure we have any substance that qualifies to run a heli-copter," Elsa said, carefully pronouncing the unfamiliar word. "Would kerosene work?"

"Yes," Mr. Kent said.

Elsa realized that it would be a hassle to attempt to carry a large amount of kerosene to the stalled helicopter, so she offered to move it closer to the dock.

All three of her visitors looked incredulous at the idea. "How's she going to move that by herself?" Jimmy Olsen whispered to Lois. Even Mr. Kent (aka Superman) was surprised at Elsa's offer. He had seen her make impenetrable ice bubbles and freeze doorframes and locks, but he had not seen her launch ice sleds or pick up Anna sitting on an ice sled without touching anything.

Elsa hoped her idea would work. Now she regretted the offer; she wasn't a hundred percent sure she could do this. She went behind the tail of the helicopter and sent a strong blast of cold air at it. Was her air current intense enough to move the big helicopter? Yes, it was! The big machine moved slowly but steadily toward the dock as Elsa followed close behind, not letting up on the current of air. Elsa's guests walked right behind her, completely dumbfounded. On board the helicopter, the pilot was bewildered at the unexpected movement until he realized that that girl he'd yelled at to move (oops, it was Queen Elsa, he remembered) was _moving the whole machine_. By herself. With some sort of cold air current she was making from nothing at all. It was rather unsettling to the pilot.

Elsa pushed the helicopter until it was about twenty feet or so from the dock. The pilot quickly climbed out of the helicopter the moment he felt its movement stop. "Would you care to join us on the way to the castle?" she asked the pilot.

_She's walking barefoot on ice!_ "Uh, yeah, sure, of course," he said, staring at Elsa's bare feet. "Aren't your feet cold?"

Elsa looked down at her feet and immediately started blushing. She'd forgotten her shoes hundreds of feet back out on the icy fjord. Major oops on her part! _And I fussed at Anna for not being dressed properly…_ "No, I'm not cold," she said. _And stop staring at me like I'm some oddity for you to gawk at!_ Elsa added in her thoughts. She knew it was strange to 'normal people' to walk barefoot on ice completely unaffected, but this man didn't even know her. He had no reason to act like that.

The three visitors' eyes all swiveled over to Elsa. Elsa pretended not to notice, as if she went about barefoot all the time. "Well, shall we proceed to the castle?"

The little group headed past the ice slide towards the castle. (Elsa was pleased to note that the crowd around the slide had dispersed and Anna was nowhere in sight. Hopefully Anna had returned to the castle on her own.)

**A/N: Um, I don't know if a helicopter can run on kerosene, but...whatever.:P Author's privilege, right?:) (Although, if someone can confirm that one way or the other, that would be great;))**


	15. Chapter 14-Day Eight, Part 3

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who's reading/following but not reviewing!:)**

Chapter 14-Day Eight, Part 3

An hour later at exactly 2PM, Elsa, Anna, and their three guests all sat in the parlor for the interview. The pilot had excused himself and gone back to the helicopter the moment he'd noticed the ice defenses all over the castle walls and the castle itself. Elsa had explained what it was for, but the pilot hadn't been interested in her explanation. Elsa was slightly perturbed at this, but she knew for a fact she hadn't done anything wrong, so she decided to just not worry herself about it. She couldn't _make_ people like her; and she figured one person being scared of her meant she wasn't doing too badly. Elsa had also had to answer the dreaded 'what happened to you?' question twice from both Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen. (Clark Kent didn't ask, she noted, which meant he was either 1)very polite or 2)already knew since he was really Superman and had been there right afterwards.) Anna's vague suggestion of what to say had worked perfectly. Elsa and Anna also answered other questions, including what their favorite colors were (blue for Elsa and green for Anna), and their favorite foods ("We love chocolate, of course!" said Anna). What was Arendelle's government like? "Arendelle has an absolute monarchy, but I pledge my vow that I will never abuse the authority," Elsa explained.

"Anyone can see that you are a powerful young lady, what with the ice and all," Lois said. "Would you ever plan to expand Arendelle's borders?"

"Certainly not! People assuming that is why my kingdom is on the brink of war." Elsa frowned. "I will not hesitate to use my abilities to defend Arendelle, but that is all."

"Did you and your sister play together often when you were younger? Perhaps make slides a la the one at the fjord?" This question was directed at Anna.

Anna looked at Elsa to see how much information she was supposed to share. Elsa mouthed 'Go ahead' at Anna and sighed. Anna realized Elsa probably should get to answer this question herself so she could decide exactly how much to say. "I believe my sister should answer that," Anna said.

Elsa gave a _very_ un-detailed summary of what the past had been like. "Now, back to the present, if you please," she said, shutting down that topic of conversation.

Their guests looked rather shocked at Elsa's story, even without very many details. "Is it all right to ask you to demonstrate what you can do?" Lois asked.

"Yes, of course!" Elsa twirled a snowball in her hands and tossed it in the air, sending a flurry of snowflakes through the air. "Although, you sort of already received a demonstration down at the fjord, did you not? The ice in the fjord, the ice slide…Now, get ready for a little chill…" She dropped the parlor's temperature about thirty degrees.

"Uh, ok, that's enough of that," Anna said. "That's way way way too cold! We can feel that even if you can't!"

"I can 'feel' the temperature drop; it just doesn't affect me," Elsa said. Her internal 'thermometer' said it was now about 40 degrees. She reverted the temperature back to its original state of around 70 degrees. Then she sent a sheet of ice across the floor before immediately dissolving it. "Is there anything else you would like to see?" she asked her guests.

"Did you make your dress?" Lois asked. "It looks like it's made of, I don't know how else to put it, flowing ice…"

"Yes."

"That's exactly what it seems like-flowing ice! It's cold to the touch," Anna added. "I wanted Elsa to make me one of my own until I realized it was _freezing._"

"May I touch it?" Lois asked.

"Um, sure…" Elsa stood up to let Lois touch the icy fabric of her sparkling blue skirt.

"Princess Anna is right-it's cold! How did you _do_ that?"

"I don't know how it works; I just can." Elsa was tired of discussing her powers (especially when she really honestly didn't know how they worked), so she changed the subject by saying, "Would you like a tour of the castle? Anna is a terrific tour guide."

Anna led a tour around the castle, chattering all the way. "And this is the parlor, you know, where we were just having the interview. Don't you think the furniture is pretty? Oh, here's the hallway-well, duh. There's the kitchen, we have loads of chocolate in there. Do you like the carpet? Here's the Great Hall, where Elsa holds boring meetings. There's the ballroom. Let's go upstairs. Hey, Elsa, will you make an ice ramp?"

"_No._"

"Boo, no fair. Well, anyhow, as I was saying, let's go upstairs. See, the staircase is a spiral. I used to ride my bike down the stairs when I was little. No wait, I still do that…"

Elsa groaned inside. _Anna, don't say stuff like that!_

Their guests couldn't say a word between Anna's ongoing stream of chatter.

"Oh, here we are at the upstairs hallway. There's Elsa's room. There's my room. My room is messy. Here's the castle library. Oh yeah, by the way, it's fun to go out on the ledges outside the windows up here. Want to climb out there with me now?" Anna opened a window and looked outside.

"Anna, no! Our guests don't want to do that!" Elsa was horrified at Anna's suggestion. To her surprise, Lois actually looked as if she were seriously considering going out there with Anna. Jimmy Olsen looked indifferent, and Mr. Kent simply looked rather…_ill_, that was the only word Elsa could think of. He also looked as if he were frantically looking for something.

What he was really doing, however, was looking for the kryptonite that had to be somewhere nearby. Nothing else could be having this effect on him. He finally saw it, lying right outside a small lead box, underneath a cabinet. _I have to get out of here!_

"Mr. Kent, what's the matter?" Elsa asked. She followed his involuntary gaze over to the cabinet. Elsa suddenly remembered which cabinet that was-it was the one Anna had been dragging around after she and Elsa had torn the wallpaper from crashing into the wall. That was also the day she'd met Lex Luthor and received that kryptonite as a gift. Luthor had told her it took away the superpowers of those from planet Krypton. She remembered handing the kryptonite box to Anna before launching them up the icy staircase. They'd crashed, and then… and then she had completely forgotten about the kryptonite entirely. The kryptonite must be lying under that cabinet, making Mr. Kent ill. Because he was really Superman. Elsa was pleased with her deductive reasoning, but how was she going to get that kryptonite out of there without letting everyone know what she was doing?

Anna and Lois had climbed out the window onto the ledge, she noticed. They wouldn't see anything. And Jimmy Olsen had wandered into the library. That left only her and Mr. Kent in the hallway. Quick as a wink, Elsa knelt down and felt around under the cabinet. It HAD to be there! Yes, there it was. Elsa pulled out the slightly glowing green rock and looked over at Mr. Kent. "You're Superman," she whispered. "This is kryptonite…and it only affects those from planet Krypton."

Mr. Kent backed away from Elsa shaking his head no. "Aw, come on, Queen Elsa, you must admit you're mistaken."

Elsa was absolutely positive she had guessed correctly. A 'normal' person would not be backing away from a random green rock otherwise. She put the kryptonite back in its box and shut the lid, and Mr. Kent visibly relaxed. "I know I'm not mistaken. You looked downright ill before, and it was from this rock!" She gestured to the box.

"I think I must have just caught a sudden chill…"

"No. I know it is not cold up here, even to normal people, and I didn't do anything to the temperature. It was the kryptonite. You're Superman, I just know it!"

Elsa had him over a barrel, he knew. If he persisted in denying his true identity, she would test her theory by simply opening that box. And if he did admit to being Superman…would she expose him to everyone? No, he knew she wouldn't, not after she'd shared her own story. Elsa had to be an excellent secret-keeper to maintain a secret like she had for thirteen years. He had already known Elsa was suspicious of his identity when she had shaken his hand out on the fjord. Elsa was just too people-savvy! Which he found strange, considering she had been completely isolated for so long. He decided to ask one final question before admitting it. "Where did you get the kryptonite from?"

"I had a man by the name of Lex Luthor come by to meet me a couple days ago. He gave it to me as a gift and wanted me to help him wipe out Superman in exchange for an estate in California. I said no, and sent him on his way. He told me that kryptonite takes away superpowers of those from Krypton. I kept the kryptonite, though, because I thought if someone with bad intentions had all those powers Superman-you!-has, it would be horrible."

Somehow, he knew that Elsa was telling the truth. There was no reason for her to make up a story like that, and besides, he knew who Lex Luthor was. What Elsa had just described sounded exactly like something Luthor would try. "Luthor was not entirely correct in saying that it only takes away Kryptonians' powers. It can kill them if exposed to it long enough." He took off his 'Clark Kent glasses', letting Elsa see for certain who he was. _She's the second person within a week that knows. _(A couple days before, Lois knew about his being Superman as well. The two had been scouting around Niagara Falls for a newspaper story. After Lois had jumped right into a raging river trying to get him to admit to being Superman, they'd gone back to the resort they were staying at. And he'd tripped and fallen right into a fire…and of course been completely unharmed, thus solidifying Lois's suspicion. Then he and Lois had gone to his Fortress of Solitude, and they had professed their love to each other, and would have gotten married. But his mother had told him that the only way that would be possible would be if he gave up his superpowers permanently, and after a long-winded discussion, Lois and he had conceded that was a terrible idea. Metropolis would have no one to fight crime any longer. So that was the end of that.)

"What?! It kills people, besides taking away their superpowers? I am so, so sorry for having something like that around you!" Elsa said. "I give my word that I will never tell a soul about you, also." Elsa paused before adding, "Forgive me for being so bold, but I think it would be nice if you told Ms. Lane. She likes you very much, I can tell. I don't believe it is my place to know and not her." Elsa had seen the-what to her were very lovey dovey-looks Lois made at Mr. Kent since they had first arrived.

"Lois….already knows."

Just then, there was a loud shriek coming from outside the open window. Jimmy was startled out of his exploration of the library and came running back into the hall; Elsa immediately looked out the window and promptly screamed herself; and Mr. Kent aka Superman saw the scene outside through the wall and took off downstairs changing into Superman as he went.

Somehow Lois had started to slip off the ledge, much like Elsa had done the day before. Lois was holding on the ledge with one hand and Anna's hand with the other. Anna was kneeling on the ledge, trying to hold Lois up from falling, but her balance was off and her weight was about to tip both of them off the ledge entirely. Elsa took in the scene unfolding outside the window. What could she do? Of course, Mr. Kent aka Superman could just pull them up, but he had disappeared and Elsa didn't know where he'd gone. Elsa knew she couldn't pull them back to safety herself; they'd probably pull her out with them. Thinking swiftly, she anchored her own feet to the floor with ice so she couldn't be yanked out the window and leaned outside. "Ms. Lane, grab my hand! I can help!"

The only problem with this was that because Elsa most definitely was not calm at the moment, her hand was freezing to the touch. Lois let go of Anna's hand and grabbed Elsa's cold one and tried to jerk away in surprise. "Your hand is freezing!"

Elsa's grip was sure, though, so while Lois managed to yank Elsa partway outside, neither of them fell. Elsa was very glad she'd had the forethought to stick her feet to the floor. "I'm sorry! Just please hold on!"

Anna's precarious kneeling position on the ledge made her tumble off when she let go of Lois. She had just enough time to think, _I've NEVER fallen off before today!_ before Superman caught her in midair.

Elsa was horrified and then relieved an instant later at the sight. Jimmy tapped her on the shoulder and asked, "Can I help somehow?"

"Excuse me?" Elsa was incredulous that he needed to ask such a question. "Yes, you can help! Help me pull Ms. Lane back inside."

"No need for that. I've got them both." Superman effortlessly set both Anna and Lois inside through the window. "Well, I suppose I had better be going now." Superman took off into the sky.

* * *

><p>Back inside, the first thing out of Anna's mouth was, "Uh, Elsa, did you know your feet are stuck to the floor?"<p>

"Yes! That was the only way I could avoid being yanked out the window. I knew I couldn't just haul you and Ms. Lane back inside." Elsa dissolved the ice before adding, "What on earth were you thinking inviting Ms. Lane out there?! If Superman hadn't come just then…"

"Hmm…what was that about Superman?" Mr. Kent suddenly came walking down the hall.

"Ms. Lane and Princess Anna were just about to fall off the roof!" Jimmy said.

"They were? I hadn't realized."

Elsa and Lois stifled smiles at Mr. Kent's acting. Lois noticed Elsa's reaction and asked, "What's so funny, Queen Elsa?"

Elsa cryptically responded, "It is not my right to share."

Lois immediately inferred what Elsa did not say. _She knows too! I thought I was the only one he shared that information with._ _He told her and he hasn't even known her for a day!_ Lois couldn't help feeling a bit jealous. She had known Clark for a long time without him telling her, and now Elsa knew the truth in a few hours. And Elsa had her own superpowers on top of that. _Maybe he told her because he likes her instead of me!_ Lois frowned. She knew she was being silly, but she couldn't help it.

"My sister and I apologize for the drama this afternoon. Would you care to stay for dinner?" Elsa asked.

"We must be leaving soon, since we can't leave our pilot for too much longer," Lois said.

"Oh. All right, as you wish. Shall I assist in bringing the kerosene for the helicopter down to the fjord?" Elsa replied. _Is Ms. Lane mad at me for something?_

"There's no need for you to bother yourself with that, Queen Elsa. We can manage," Mr. Kent said.

"It is no bother. Just give me a moment, please." Elsa took the kryptonite box down the hall to her room, put it in her closet, and came back. "Now my sister and I will fetch the kerosene from the kitchen. We will meet you down at the fjord."

"We will?" Anna asked. She did not want to lug a container of kerosene down to the fjord.

"Yes, we will." Elsa gave Anna a pointed look. "Now if everyone wouldn't mind following me downstairs…" Elsa headed for the staircase as dignified as her limping steps would let her. She started down the stairs, hoping everyone really was following her.

Well, evidently at least Anna had followed her, because Anna flew by down the banister with an excited shout. "Come on, you guys SO should try-ow, oops!" There was a thud as Anna crashed at the bottom of the staircase. Then, "Ok, so never mind, maybe don't try that."

Elsa was annoyed at Anna's antics, but asked, "Anna, are you all right?"

"Yeah, of course I am! You and the others are so slow, come on, hurry up!"

Elsa did not 'hurry up'; she proceeded downstairs at the same speed she had already been. Finally, she reached the bottom of the staircase and whispered to Anna before their guests arrived all the way downstairs, "Anna, stop acting so crazy! You're being embarrassing and completely improper!"

"Says the girl who's been going around barefoot all afternoon," Anna smirked.

Elsa flushed and said, "We will finish this discussion later," as their guests finally caught up with them. She saw Kai a few feet away and asked him to escort their guests out of the castle. "We'll meet you in a few minutes down at the fjord," she told their guests. Then she took Anna's hand and pulled her toward the kitchen. "We'll each carry a keg of kerosene down to the fjord. That should be enough fuel for the helicopter."

"But it's heavy!"

"I think you can manage. Here, take this," Elsa said, handing Anna a small keg of kerosene. She picked up an identical one herself, then said, "Come on, Anna, let's go. And _don't _pull any pranks, please."

"Who, me?"

Elsa's silence told Anna that she was not amused. "Where's your sense of humor, Elsa?"

Elsa still said nothing. If she said something right that second, it would probably be something she'd regret later.

"Elsa? Stop ignoring me!" Anna said, running a little ahead and walking backwards in front of Elsa.

"I am not ignoring you. I just don't have anything to say. And Anna, walk facing forwards before you run in to something."

"Sheesh! Bossy, bossy," Anna complained. "Why are you in such a bad mood?"

"Queens are allowed to be bossy sometimes."

"Not to their sisters, they aren't!"

"Anna…let's continue this argument later." Elsa's tone said she was not going to discuss this any further at the moment.

* * *

><p>They walked the rest of the way to the fjord in silence. Anna copied Elsa's limp (in a rather exaggerated way) to annoy her while Elsa pretended she didn't notice. Each of them was completely irked with the other. Elsa thought Anna had acted completely out of line and embarrassing most of the afternoon. Anna thought Elsa was just being ridiculous, since who cared what people thought if she slid down banisters and such?<p>

"Here is the kerosene. Where would you like us to put it?" Elsa asked when they arrived next to the helicopter.

"In here," Mr. Kent said, opening the fuel tank.

Elsa and Anna poured the kerosene into the tank. _I wonder if I can make a machine like this out of ice. That would be a quick and easy way to get to Cedar Point whenever we go, _Elsa thought. "Could I see the engine? I'm curious about how it works."

Ms. Lane stuck her head into the cockpit and told the pilot, "Queen Elsa wants to see the engine."

"Great…" The pilot climbed out and reluctantly showed Elsa the inner mechanisms of the helicopter's engine.

Elsa drew a mental diagram of what she saw. "Thank you, sir."

"We really must be going," Mr. Kent said finally. "Thank you for a wonderful day, Queen Elsa and Princess Anna. The interview will be published in the Daily Planet newspaper tomorrow. Superman will bring you a copy sometime soon after."

"It was our pleasure. Right, Anna?" Elsa said.

"Oh, yeah, right. Our pleasure," Anna repeated.

Their guests climbed into the helicopter and waved as the machine rose into the air with a loud rumble. Elsa and Anna waved back until the helicopter was out of sight.

"So, Elsa, what did I do that was so embarrassing?" Anna asked suddenly.

"What did you do?! Let's see…you said I held boring meetings, that your room was messy, that you ride your bike down the stairs, and who knows what else I can't remember. You wanted me to make an ice ramp up the stairs. And you invited a guest out on the ledge-which I specifically said not to do-and nearly killed the both of you. And you slid down the banister and crashed at the bottom. Need I say more?"

"Well, your meetings _are_ boring! My room IS messy, and I DO ride my bike down the stairs! And what's the big deal about making an ice ramp? You thought it was fun before! Ok, so maybe taking a guest out on the ledge wasn't such a great idea…but what's the big deal about sliding down the banister?"

Elsa clenched her hands at her sides, willing herself to calm down. She could feel ice forming on her clenched fists, ready to break loose any moment. _Don't you dare explode, Elsa,_ she told herself. Elsa took a deep breath and said primly, "You don't need to share embarrassing family details. Now, if you'll excuse me, I believe I shall attempt to find my shoes I left out on the runway earlier." She headed out onto the fjord, away from Anna.

"How about you running around barefoot all afternoon?" Anna called after her. "Was _that_ proper?!"

Elsa didn't reply. The second she knew she was far enough out on the fjord that she wouldn't hit Anna, she released the pent-up ice in what looked like a small ice explosion. _Ah, that's better,_ Elsa thought. Now where were those shoes?

Anna saw Elsa's little ice explosion and realized she'd pushed Elsa too far. She knew Elsa had to be really mad to have done that; Elsa did not like making things like that on purpose. Maybe Anna had kind of acted a _little_ crazy and embarrassing… Anna started to follow Elsa out onto the fjord, but thought better of it. Elsa would come back when she was ready.

Far out on the fjord, Elsa was still looking for her shoes. She'd made such a big deal about finding them, so she did not want to go back without them. Elsa took the time looking to calm down. At least she didn't feel like exploding anymore. _Maybe I shouldn't have scolded Anna so much. She was just being herself. And some of it WAS funny…just a little out of place._ Elsa gave up finding those shoes. She did have others at the castle, so she wasn't that concerned about it. Elsa melted the icy runway as she headed back to the dock. Soon she was standing next to Anna with the runway completely vanished.

"That was so cool watching all that ice recede and disappear," Anna said. "And I'm, uh, sorry for, um, acting like a twit today, Elsa."

"I'm sorry for scolding you for acting crazy. Shall we just forget about it?" Elsa smiled back at Anna.

"Yeah, let's."

"Come on, let's go have dinner."


	16. Chapter 15-Day Nine, Part 1

Chapter 15-Day Nine, Part 1

It was a little after three in the morning that the message came, jerking Elsa out of a sound sleep. A frenzied knock on her door and a rushed explanation from Kai that said the enemies from Weselton and the Southern Isles had arrived. A castle lookout had seen the ships' lights out in the fjord, Kai told her. Elsa quickly got up and dressed in a navy blue dress and a cloak to hide her distinctive platinum hair. That 'disguise' should obscure anyone from seeing and/or recognizing her in the moonlight. She had not expected them to arrive days early and in the night, but it didn't matter. She would erect their defenses immediately before they had time to invade. Elsa had a determined look on her face as she headed down the hallway.

"It's not safe for you to go out alone!" Kai protested.

"Is anyone else able to make ice walls? I think not. I have to go myself. Please do not alarm Anna as of yet," Elsa said. "I will return in half an hour."

"At least take a guard with you," Kai said.

"Very well. I will take one. The fewer people out, the less likely we will be seen, though."

Elsa headed out the castle gate with a guard trailing after her. "Houses first," she whispered. Elsa walked down the main street, covering each building over with ice as she went. She hoped everyone had stocked up on supplies, because those doors were not going to open unless she dissipated all the ice. And because it was the middle of the night, there was no point in making her snowflake signal. Standing in the middle of the market square, she closed her eyes, clenched her fists, and sent ice over all the buildings and houses out of her sight. Hopefully she had done all of them, but there was no time to worry about that now. Remembering the spots she had marked on that map she'd drawn, she made tall ice walls at each location and sent razor-sharp icicles sticking out the opposite side and all along the top of each wall. "I'm going to ice the streets over now, so it will probably be slippery," she warned the guard. Elsa stamped her foot and the ice spread all over the streets. "All right, we can head back now." She and the guard returned to the castle and locked the gate behind them. "And now, the piece de resistance," Elsa said. "The temperature." She dropped the temperature to below freezing at around twenty degrees Fahrenheit. The biting cold spread from where Elsa was standing to all over Arendelle and out into the fjord. "Let's see what they think of that." Elsa pursed her lips, thinking. "All right, the last thing I need to do is freeze the ships in place. Help me up onto the wall, please."

"I don't know if you should-it's not safe…"

"Do it please."

The guard sighed and boosted Elsa up so she could see over the wall. Elsa held both hands up and an icy blast hit the water of the fjord, freezing it instantly. The enemy ships were trapped. "Now we can return indoors. Actually, wait…" Elsa froze the gates shut, so that they were doubly secure.

The two headed back inside. Elsa returned to her room, but couldn't get back to sleep. She knew she'd better rest while she could, though. She had done all she could at present. Elsa knew she would have to put on an act if she actually had to speak with her enemies. A tyrant act. Her battle plan relied mostly on the enemy being scared of her, so she knew she'd have to act the part. Elsa drifted off to sleep, thinking.

* * *

><p>Out in the fjord, the Duke of Weselton and King Boris of the Southern Isles were fuming and already very, very cold. How in the world had she acted so quickly? How had she even known they were there so soon? Their ships were frozen in place and it was freezing cold outside. They knew Elsa had just done that because when they had arrived, it was a normal summer night's temperature and the fjord had most definitely not been frozen solid.<p>

"What do we do now?" the duke asked the king, shivering.

"We ready ourselves for battle," King Boris replied. "Go tell all the soldiers to gather where I instructed," he ordered his servant.

"Er, I'm sorry, but some of your soldiers are on the other ships," the servant said.

"Then cross the fjord to them. It's frozen solid now."

"All twenty ships?"

"Yes. Now go," Boris ordered.

* * *

><p>By dawn, the soldiers had all gathered in groups at the different locations, all of which Elsa had anticipated and blocked with the ice walls. The leading officers of each group had not expected all that sharp ice. Although it seemed pointless to remain where they were, Boris had ordered them to stay no matter what, so they stayed. The other issue was that everything was so slippery with ice! Anytime any of them tried to walk around, it was a struggle to keep from falling. (Elsa had purposely made all the street ice especially slick.)<p>

Every man on the twenty enemy ships was shocked at the sight of thoroughly iced over Arendelle. The ice scintillated in the 8AM morning light. On the twenty ships, every captain ordered all the cannons to be loaded. They would begin laying siege to Arendelle immediately.

* * *

><p>Inside the castle at 8AM, Elsa informed Anna what was happening.<p>

"Why didn't you wake me up?!" was Anna's reaction.

"You needed your sleep, and besides, you couldn't have helped me ice everything anyway," Elsa said.

The loud boom of cannon fire interrupted their conversation. Elsa went over to an iced-over window to see what was happening. "They're laying us under siege, but the ice is holding," she said. "We will just let them waste their ammunition for awhile. They will eventually have to run out."

"Are you sure the ice will hold?"

"Positive. I am one hundred percent certain of that. Come on, Anna, let's go have breakfast."

**A/N: So...I KNOW you guys are waiting for Elsa's acting, right?:P I hope so, anyway, lol...:) More coming soon!**


	17. Chapter 16-Day Nine, Part 2

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who's reading but not reviewing:)**

**On to the story!:)**

Chapter 16-Day Nine, Part 2

After breakfast, Elsa headed back upstairs, Anna following right after her. "What are you going to do?" Anna asked.

"Draw something. It's a secret for now." Elsa wanted to make some blueprint sketches for the ice helicopter she planned to make for her and Anna to go to Cedar Point once this…issue with the Southern Isles and Weselton was over.

Anna frowned. "Why's it have to be a secret? We promised each other, no more secrets!"

"Because it's a surprise. I promise I will tell you all about it once I'm finished with it," Elsa said.

"You better tell me soon, 'cause I don't want to wait!" Anna replied.

"I hope it will be soon! I don't know how long this will take, though." Elsa went into her room and shut the door, leaving Anna in the hall.

"Aw, Elsa, I want to come in! No fair!" Anna called through the door.

"Can't you go read a book or something for a little while? I promise I'll stop what I'm doing in an hour, even if I'm not finished with it," Elsa called back.

"You're shutting me out again, Elsa! Please let me come in!" Anna started banging on the door.

Elsa went over to the door and opened it, nearly getting bopped in the face by Anna's insistent knocking. "_Anna._ I am NOT shutting you out-I'm trying to work on a surprise for both of us! Now just give me one hour of peace and quiet…please. Well, as much peace and quiet as possible considering all the cannon noise outside."

"Oh, all right." Anna reluctantly left to give Elsa her 'peace and quiet'.

Elsa closed her door and went back to her desk, pulling out some paper and a pen.

"Sixty minutes and not one nanosecond longer!" she heard Anna say from down the hall.

Elsa began to draw up careful diagrams of different sections of the helicopter. Making a few calculations, she edited some angles of some parts, and added extra touches to others. _Kerosene is expensive, so I don't want my flying machine to rely on that for fuel. It's going to be made of ice, so maybe I can make it run on water...That will be much more cost-productive. _She closed her eyes, trying to remember exactly how that engine had looked. Elsa made a small scale model of it out of ice. Examining her model, she computed what size the rest of the helicopter should be to match, and then made the rest of the helicopter. A few seconds later, there was an ice helicopter sitting on the floor in the middle of her room. It looked exactly like a miniature version of the one their newspaper visitors had arrived in, except that it was made of translucent blue ice. Now all Elsa needed to do was test it to see if it worked.

Suddenly Elsa heard a loud thud that had nothing to do with the ongoing shelling going on outside. Then Anna's voice exclaiming, "Whoa, that was awesome! I've got to do that again!" There was a sound of running footsteps and then another thud, along with the sound of something breakable shattering. "Ok, so that wasn't good. Oops," Elsa heard Anna say.

* * *

><p>Elsa peeked outside her door and looked up and down the hallway. There was a long rope with fat knots up and down its length looped over one of the struts in the framework of the high ceiling swinging back and forth. There was a vase (that had been sitting on top of a cabinet) lying shattered on the floor. And there was Anna on the floor at the end of the hall. "Anna, what in the world are you doing?"<p>

"Um…practicing to be an acrobat?"

"_What?_"

"Oh, all right fine, maybe not. I'll show you instead." Anna proceeded to grab the rope, run a few steps, and then leap forward, sending herself swinging back and forth as she scaled partway up the rope using the knots to hold on. When Anna came within inches of the far wall, she pushed off with one foot sending herself flying in the opposite direction. "It's really fun! You should try it! Aw, oops," she said as she let go of the rope and landed with a thud.

Elsa just stared at Anna in disbelief. "Tell me I didn't just see you swing down the hallway like a monkey…"

"Do you want to try it?"

"No! I'll probably crash or something. And what if someone saw us doing that?"

"Aw, don't be a stick-in-the-mud, Elsa. It's easy! You just grab on, run, and jump! Will you try it just once?"

"Maybe later. I want to finish what I'm working on first. I'll just be a few more minutes." Elsa disappeared back into her room. She made a small container of ice and filled it with water from the sink in her bathroom. Then she poured the water into the model ice helicopter's fuel tank. The model's ice engine roared to life immediately, and it rose into the air. Elsa smiled-she had made it so that the default setting when there was water in the fuel tank was 'on'. When she froze the water in the tank, the model crashed to the floor and the engine cut off. She melted the ice in the fuel tank back into water, and the model rose back into the air. Then she froze the "fuel" once more. _I did it! It really works! _Ice in the fuel tank equaled off, and liquid water in the fuel tank equaled on. Water really made a perfect fuel choice-it wasn't a pollutant, and she would never run out should the helicopter become stranded somewhere. The worst that would happen would be that she'd have to purposely make normal ice or snow that would melt, and just wait. The only bad thing that Elsa could think of about her design was that the machine would be completely useless unless she was the one steering it, since the only way to turn it off and on was freezing and unfreezing the fuel. _Well, at least that means no one will steal it, _she thought. Elsa peeked into the hallway once more. "Anna, do you want to see the surprise?"

After crash-landing once more, Anna came inside Elsa's room and saw the ice helicopter model in the middle of the floor. "Elsa, is that what I think it is? It looks like a helicopter made of ice!"

"It is. Obviously this is just a model, but I'm going to make a full-sized one for us to fly to Cedar Point whenever we go," Elsa replied.

"You mean…it REALLY works?"

Elsa responded by unfreezing the fuel-water, making the model's engine roar to life and rise into the air. Then she turned it off by refreezing it.

"How did you do that?!"

"It runs on water. But the default setting is 'on', so to turn it to 'off', I freeze the water in the fuel tank. And…that's it. I can't steer the model because it's too small, but other than that, this works just like a normal helicopter, at least to my knowledge."

"That is so amazing! I can't wait to see a full-sized ice helicopter. It's going to be so awesome to ride in!" Anna said.

"I'm glad you like it, Anna. Now, if you still want me to, I'm game to try your rope swing contraption in the hall," Elsa replied.

"Really?! Yay!" Anna ran out of the room.

Elsa followed behind her. "All right, so tell me what I'm supposed to do."

"Well, you just grab the rope, run a little, and then jump. Easy as pie. Here," Anna said as she handed the rope to Elsa.

"Well, here goes nothing, I suppose." Elsa did as Anna said and made it halfway down the hall before slipping off.

"That was good! Try again," Anna suggested.

"Oh, all right." Elsa tried again. This time she swung far down the hall, high in the air. "How do you keep from hitting the wall?!"

"You push off when you get close enough! Like…right now!"

Elsa scrunched her eyes shut and pushed off, swinging back down the hall. "Did I do it right?"

"Yep! Now if you scale partway up the rope, you'll swing faster!"

"How do I do that?!"

"Uh…you grab the knots and just pull yourself up…"

Elsa did as Anna instructed. "You know what, Anna? This is really… actually…fun!" As Elsa's swings maintained the same distance but increased in speed, it became harder to judge when to push off from each wall. Anna was impressed-she herself hadn't made it this many consecutive swings without crashing before. "You must be a natural at this, Elsa!" she shouted.

"Maybe! Is it bad…that I think…this is…a really good…idea of yours…for once?" Elsa said as she continued swinging back and forth.

Anna giggled. "Why would I think my own idea is bad? Can I have a turn now?"

"Sure, but…how do you…get down?"

Anna had forgotten to tell Elsa that part. "Uh, you kind of have to just let go of the rope when you're closest to the floor…"

"What?! You're going to…have to…tell me when…"

"Ok, now then!"

"Now? Well, if you're sure…"

"No, not now! You waited too long!" But Anna was too late with her reply, and Elsa went flying and landed in a heap on the floor. "Elsa! Are you all right?"

"I…think so…" Elsa stood up and brushed her dress off. "Yes, I'm fine. Anna, next time, tell me how I'm supposed to get down _before_ I try it, hmm?"

"I forgot to tell you."

"You forgot to tell me how to get down when that is one of the most important things to know. Ok then…all right, Anna, go ahead and take your turn."

Anna quickly began swinging back and forth. "So, Elsa, how did you…manage to…keep swinging…so long…and so fast?"

"I don't know! After you said to climb up the rope to swing faster, I just started watching for the wall way before I was actually close to it. Maybe that helps?"

Anna continued swinging, and Elsa walked over to look out a window.

"So what's…going on…out there…now?" Anna asked, still swinging.

"Exactly what all the noise would make you think. They're still firing at us, specifically at the castle." Elsa instinctively jumped back from the window with a yelp as a cannonball hit the iced-over window and harmlessly bounced off.

Anna jumped off the rope swing and ran over to the window. "What did you do that for, Elsa? I thought you said the ice would hold."

"The ice will hold, and it is. Let's see you try watching a cannonball fly directly at you and _not_ jump backwards, even if you do know you're technically safe."

"You're on!" Anna looked out the window, waiting for another cannonball to come from that direction. Soon one hit the window, and Anna didn't budge an inch. "See, I win!" Anna said.

"You know what I don't understand?" Elsa asked as she gazed out the window. "One would think that they would realize that they are wasting their time, ammunition, and supplies…then what? I mean, look how many stray cannonballs are lying in the courtyard, the gardens, and outside the castle walls."

"Well, maybe they all have pea brains," Anna said. "I definitely think the Duke of Weaseltown has a pea brain! In all seriousness, though, I imagine they just haven't realized that your ice defenses aren't regular ice that will crack and break."

"I suppose. I still can't help but wonder what their complete plan is, though. There is no way they plan to flush us out just by placing us under siege…they have a limited amount of supplies and ammunition, and if anything, we can simply outlast them here. Plus, I am quite certain that they did not bring winter supplies, since, after all, it is supposed to be summer time," Elsa said.

"How cold did you make it out there? I haven't been outside since yesterday, before all this started."

"I don't think it's cold outside at all. In fact, I think it's rather nice out," Elsa teased.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, you never get cold. Ok, what temperature is it?"

"Oh, about twenty degrees Fahrenheit."

Anna started giggling. "If there are any soldiers camping out somewhere, they aren't going to be very comfortable! They'll all have to surrender soon or risk getting frostbite or something."

"Oh my goodness, Anna, you just reminded me of something! Our lookout is outside on the castle wall in that little turret room. While I did ice the wall in such a way that he's perfectly safe from all the shelling, that doesn't fix the fact that it's still below freezing out there. He has to come inside!"

"Then just who do you propose to be the lookout? You can't have nobody out there watching things," Anna said reasonably.

"I'll be the lookout myself."

"You can't do that! You're the queen!"

"And as queen, I say I can. I'm the only one who can stay outside without any ill effects from the cold."

"Well, that's true. But how are you going to get to the lookout turret room with them still firing at us?" Anna asked.

"I can't tell you…"

"What do you mean you can't tell me?! We promised each other no more secrets!"

"If I tell you, you have to promise never to tell a soul, no matter what. This is serious."

"I promise!"

"Anna, I mean it! Don't tell Kristoff, don't tell Gerda or Kai, NOBODY. It's something only the royal family is supposed to know."

"I promise! Cross my heart and hope to die! Hey wait, if only the royal family is supposed to know, why didn't our parents tell ME?!"

"I don't know. They told me when I was sixteen, so it was probably because you weren't sixteen yet when they…well, you know."

"Oh. So what is this best-kept secret, then?"

**A/N: So...what do you guys think the secret is? (Actually it's insanely obvious if you're reading my other story...;))**

**Whether you guys are enjoying this or absolutely hating it, I would still enjoy reading your reviews.:) **


	18. Chapter 17-Day Nine, Part 3

**A/N: What did everyone think of Elsa's ice helicopter model? Obviously there's no such thing in real life, but do you think it's logical for it to run on water? Anyway...on to the story! **

**Thanks to everyone who's reading but not reviewing:)**

Chapter 17-Day Nine, Part 3

"There are secret passages, chutes, and tunnels throughout the castle. For escape purposes, sieges, and other things of that sort. One of them leads to the lookout turret room," Elsa explained.

"Wow, that's awesome! Have you ever been in any of them?"

"Yes. I used to explore them when I needed to get out of my room sometimes…since no one but our parents knew about the passages and tunnels and whatnot, I knew no one would catch me and I wouldn't hurt anyone…I haven't been in any of them since the coronation a month ago, though."

"Will you show me some of them?"

"Sure! You can follow me out to the lookout turret, but you have to go back inside right after. I don't want you catching cold."

"This is so awesome! It's like we're in a mystery story or something," Anna said.

"Well, let me change my dress, and then let's go." Elsa pulled her original ice dress out of the closet, went into her bathroom to change, and came back a minute later. "Are you ready, Anna?" She pulled a candle and some matches out of a drawer in her desk.

"Yep!"

"All right, follow me." Elsa left her room and headed down the hall, down the staircase, stopping in front of one of the suits of armor at the bottom of the stairs. Checking behind her to be sure no one was watching, Elsa slipped behind the armor, pulling Anna behind her. Elsa felt along the molding of the wall at waist-height for the tiny irregularity that marked where to enter the secret passage. "Ok, here it is. Anna, quit stepping on my cape."

"Oops, sorry."

Running her hand straight down the wall from the tiny irregularity, Elsa knelt on the floor and pressed the bottom of the wall and the irregularity simultaneously. A small section at the floor swung inwards, revealing the low-ceilinged, narrow, dark passage beyond. Elsa lit her candle before crawling inside. A few feet into the passage, the ceiling grew tall enough to stand up. "Hurry up, Anna, before someone sees us."

"I'm coming!"

"Shut the secret door behind you, please."

"How do I do that?"

"Just push it back into place. It will automatically lock."

Anna shut the door and the passage became lit only by the light of Elsa's candle. "Where are you, Elsa? I can't see you!"

"Just crawl straight forward toward the light. It's only a couple feet."

Anna found her way to Elsa, who was standing just beyond where the ceiling became taller. "This is so awesome! How do you know how to find your way around in here, though?"

"You memorize the layout, mostly. Here, just follow close behind me," Elsa said. Elsa gathered her trailing cape in one hand so Anna wouldn't step on it, and held the candle in the other.

They went through a series of twists and turns, down a flight of steps, down a long straight tunnel, and up another flight of steps. "Anna, we are now right below the turret room. Stay here. I'll be back in a few minutes." Elsa handed Anna the candle and felt along the low ceiling. She pulled a folded-up ladder down, which revealed a hole in the ceiling as she did so, and more ladder rising above that. Elsa climbed up the folded-down portion of the ladder and came up into the bottom of the lookout turret's tower. She pulled the ladder up, closing off the hole. Then she climbed up the rest of the fixed ladder into the lookout room area.

The lookout jumped when he heard Elsa come into the room. "H-how did you get out here safely?"

"Very carefully. You are relieved of your duty for the time being," Elsa told him.

"Why, thank you, Queen Elsa! Who is going to take my place?" he asked, realizing Elsa hadn't brought anyone else with her.

"I am. It is twenty degrees out here; it's cold. I don't mind the cold, so…"

The lookout was incredulous. Never in his life had he heard of the reigning monarch taking up the lookout job herself. "Are you sure? I don't want you to go to any extra trouble on my account."

"I am positive. It is no trouble at all," Elsa said. She suddenly realized that the cannonfire had abruptly stopped. "Head back inside before they start firing at us again."

The lookout took his leave. The moment Elsa saw him go inside, she went down the ladder as fast as she could go to tell Anna she could either come up for a few minutes or go back inside, whichever she preferred.

"Come up with you, of course!" Anna said, scrambling up the ladder.

"Only for a few minutes," Elsa warned. "I know it's cold for you out here."

* * *

><p>Elsa and Anna sat quietly in the cold little lookout room, looking out over the icy fjord. Elsa did not like the sudden respite from the cannon fire; it seemed suspicious to her. "What do you think they're up to, Anna?"<p>

"I don't know, but definitely something suspicious. Look," Anna said, pointing outside to a man picking his way slowly towards the castle. He slipped on the ice and fell, then started coming towards the castle again, even slower now.

"I have a message here for Queen Elsa of Arendelle!" the man shouted.

"He wants to talk to you," Anna said.

"Monumental deduction, Anna." Elsa melted a hole in the ice surrounding the room and called out in her most dignified voice, "I am Queen Elsa of Arendelle." Then she whispered to Anna, "Stay down so he doesn't see you."

"Why?" Anna asked.

"Just do it! There's no time to explain."

"Oh, ok." Anna ducked below where the actual stone walls ended and Elsa's ice 'windows' spread to the ceiling.

The man looked about, wondering where Elsa's voice had come from.

"You are looking for me, I daresay," Elsa said in an unimpressed tone as she dropped a snowball out the hole in the ice, which landed right next to the man, who jumped in surprise and looked up to see Elsa in the lookout tower room on the wall. _I hope my acting is convincing…_

"Why is the queen in a lookout room?" he blurted.

"What the queen of Arendelle does is none of your concern. The message, if you please? I do believe you claimed you had a message for me," Elsa replied, twirling another snowball in her hands. "Of course, if you have nothing more to say, then I might just have to drop this on you," she added, making as if to drop the snowball.

Anna started giggling at Elsa's acting, and Elsa shushed her.

"Uh…ah…um…" the man said.

"The message is 'uh…ah…um'? All right then," Elsa said.

"No, it's uh, this," the man said, holding up a rolled-up sheet of paper.

"I see."

"Well, I'm supposed to give it to you personally. How am I going to do that with you up there and me down here?"

"That is not my issue," Elsa answered. Making a face as if it were far too much trouble than it was worth, she made an icy ladder up the side of the tower. "Bring it to me, then."

"Is that going to hold me?"

"It might. Then again, it might not. Of course, if the message isn't too important…you can always return to your ship without giving it to me."

The man skittered up the ladder, dropped the message in Elsa's hand, and skittered back down. Then he took off at a run toward the frozen fjord.

"You may want to rethink running. That ice is more than a little slippery," Elsa called after him just as he took a tumble and got up, proceeding at a much slower pace after that. Elsa dissolved the ice ladder on the side of the tower and refroze the hole in the ice enclosing the room. "Ok, Anna, you can get up now. He's gone."

Anna let out the laughter she'd be holding in. "Elsa, that was hilarious! 'The message is 'uh…ah…um'?' You should have heard yourself! Were you really going to drop that snowball on him if he hadn't said anything else?"

"I don't know. I was making it up as I went along. Did you really think I was being funny, Anna? I wasn't trying to be a comedienne. That was supposed to be my tyrant act!"

"If I hadn't known you were acting, you would have made a convincing tyrant. But since I knew you were acting, it was just downright hilarious. I've never heard you get all mouthy like that before-it's just so not you. You get bossy sometimes 'cause you're my sister, but you never do that oh-you-are-so-below-me-I-don't-need-to-waste-my-time-on-you thing," Anna said.

"Oh, ok. Well, let's see what this message says," Elsa replied. She unrolled the message and held it so that both she and Anna could read it at the same time.

"They've got to be kidding!" Anna exploded. "How dare they request you to come down to their flagship for 'negotiation purposes' tomorrow morning at 10:30! THEY'RE the ones that declared war on US in the first place!"

"To be fair, it would be rather difficult for them to come to the castle for that. That ice is very, very slick. I imagine they have realized that it is useless to send any more barrage of cannon fire at us, too. That's why they've stopped. This also says that 'due to an extreme weather change, we find it necessary to compromise as we intended to engage in a conventional, normal battle; and not contend with aberrant ice'," Elsa read a snippet of the message aloud. _Thinly veiled insults…yeah, I get it. You all don't like or approve of me or my powers._

"What does aberrant mean?" Anna asked.

"It means 'departing from an accepted standard'."

"So they're subtly being snide and trying to insult you, in a message where they're admitting they are losing. How rude and presum…presumptu…"

"I believe the word you're looking for is 'presumptuous'. Anyway, I think they are just angry because they assumed I would be dense enough to send our small military forces into a traditional battle because of the 'girls, especially royalty, don't wage war themselves' stereotype. If I _had_ sent our military forces into battle, we would already be on the verge of surrender by now. They're implying that I am not fighting fair because I had the just horrible audacity to use a defense mechanism no one else has access to," Elsa explained.

"Well, all's fair in love and war," Anna said. "I thought when a country is at war, one is supposed to use whatever weapons and defenses they have on hand. And in our case, we have Elsa's Epic Security Ice!"

Elsa laughed. "True! Anyhow, I don't care what they think of me. I really don't. They can hate my guts forever and a day, I don't mind. I just want them to leave Arendelle alone. If a negotiation meeting will assist to that end, I will do it."

"I still think that's a terrible idea to go down there," Anna said. "By the way, it's getting really cold out here. Did you drop the temperature some more?"

"No." Elsa frowned. "You should go back inside and come back later."

Anna reluctantly headed down the tower, across the courtyard, and back inside the castle, leaving Elsa with her thoughts.

**A/N: The plot will pick up speed in the next couple chapters.:) Next chapter coming soon:)**


	19. Chapter 18-Day Ten, Part 1

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who's reading but not reviewing! Although I would like some reviews...pretty please?:) Even if you hate it!**

**princessdianaofparadiseisland-Thanks for the review, sis.:P That's a good point about Elsa's ice-copter; it it HER ice, not just random ice.:)**

**Lelo-The secret has been revealed!;) The secret passages mentioned in the last chapter.:)**

**On to the story!:) (Note: Anna has her childhood memories back. I concluded they automatically came back to her at the end of the movie since the white streak in her hair was gone.:))**

Chapter 18-Day Ten, Part 1

Early the next morning at 7AM, Anna headed back out to the lookout tower (_not_ via the secret passages, though, since she didn't remember exactly how to get there) carrying a pile of blankets and breakfast. She was going to stay in the lookout room with Elsa this time! Anna had brought lunch and dinner out to Elsa the day before and tried to convince her to let someone else be the lookout, but no amount of coaxing would budge Elsa from her post. "It's too cold for anyone else to stay out here for any length of time," Elsa insisted. Elsa had stayed out in the lookout room all night keeping watch.

Anna climbed up into the lookout room to find a very tired Elsa still awake keeping watch over things. "Elsa, did you even take a short nap or something last night?"

"No. How would I have done that with no one else out here to be the lookout?" Elsa yawned and looked sleepily at Anna. "What time is it now?"

"About seven in the morning. You mean you stayed up _all night?_!"

"Mmhmm…and just for the record, nothing happened…"

"Well, I'll keep watch for awhile. You go inside and take a nap," Anna said.

"No, it's too cold…for you to stay out…here. I'll be…fine…did you say take a nap?" Elsa asked.

"Yes, Elsa, I said go inside and take a nap! N-A-P, NAP! Elsa, are you listening? Snap out of it!" Anna snapped her fingers at Elsa, who looked completely zoned out.

"What did you say, Anna?"

"GO. TAKE. A. NAP. Now!"

"I can't! Who is going to be the lookout?"

"I will. Elsa, you are not going to be a good lookout if you're half asleep anyway. Here, if you won't go inside, take a nap out here then," Anna said, pushing the blankets into Elsa's arms.

"I don't get cold. You keep them," Elsa replied.

"They're for you to lay on, silly! A blanket-bed, if you will," Anna said, spreading the blankets on the floor. "There. Now you lay down and go to sleep."

"Oh. Well, all right. But you have to wake me up if anything happens! And wake me up anyway at 9:30 so I'll have time to eat before going to that meeting." Elsa curled up on top of the blankets and was fast asleep in less than five minutes.

Anna ate her share of breakfast while she watched things, although in her mind, there was really nothing to watch. All the enemy ships were stuck in the fjord, and Anna couldn't see any suspicious goings-on at all.

* * *

><p>Out on the flagship in the fjord, King Boris and the Duke of Weselton discussed what sort of ploy they could use to turn the situation to their favor.<p>

"We have to somehow convince their queen to get rid of all this ice and this nasty, frigid temperature," Boris said. "It won't be easy, either, judging from what the messenger I sent said she did."

"Well, last time _I_ saw her, she didn't act anything like the messenger described. At all. She acted very reserved and withdrawn, and ran away after freezing everything. After thawing everything, she sent me back to Weselton and cut off business, but she was still nice enough," the duke said.

"So she has a split personality, I suppose."

"I don't care what kind of personality she has! That girl is a menace to society! Just look at all this ice!"

Boris ignored this outburst; he knew the duke was easily excitable. "Forget that, we have to enact a plan. If we capture her, her sister will come after her, and then we can make her unfreeze everything by threatening the princess."

"But we have to actually capture her first for that to work, and she can just break out of wherever she's locked in. Also, she may not even show up for the 'negotiation meeting' anyway."

"That's true, but I have a feeling she will show up. There isn't a reason for her not to. She knows we're all at a stalemate at the moment."

"Stalemate?!" the duke said. "We're losing if you ask me. We shot a long barrage of cannon fire directly at the castle yesterday, and the ice didn't even crack. Those ice defenses are definitely not normal ice."

"Well, no one's asking you. And of course it's not 'normal' ice-she _made_ it all! Good grief. Anyway, follow me, I'll show you the room we're going to lock her in."

The two went down through the decks of the ship and Boris stopped in front of a door with bars across the top. "In there."

* * *

><p>At precisely 9:30, Anna shook Elsa awake. "It's 9:30, Elsa. You told me to wake you up."<p>

"Anna, go back to sleep," Elsa mumbled. Something popped into her memory. _Little Anna. I just can't! The sky's awake, so I'm awake, so we have to play. _This sent her sleepy dream-thoughts toward something else not so happy. _Wait! Slow down! …dead silence… You're ok, Anna, I got you. … This is getting out of hand. Elsa, what have you done? _"ANNA!" Elsa awoke with a start, accidentally sending a blast of snow all over the lookout room. "

Anna jumped back in surprise, and then sat down next to Elsa. "What was that all about? You must have been having a bad dream."

Elsa scrambled away from Anna. "Don't touch me!" She held both hands close to her chest. "I did all that and didn't even know it!" Elsa exclaimed, looking at all the snow in the lookout room. _Elsa, you lost control again. Calm down..._

"Elsa, calm down! You were having a bad dream, that's all," Anna said.

Elsa relaxed slightly but made no move closer to Anna.

Anna took a few tentative steps toward Elsa. Elsa didn't back away, which Anna took as a good sign. "Elsa…do you…do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really." Elsa allowed Anna to steer her back over to the snowy blankets and sit down.

"Elsa, it's ok if you don't want to tell me, but don't _not_ tell me just because you're trying to hold it all in. That is not helpful," Anna said.

Elsa sighed. _You should tell Anna. No more secrets. _"It was an exact moment-by-moment replay of the original accident when we were little," she whispered. "And it stopped right after father said, 'Elsa, what have you done?' I remember the whole thing as if it were yesterday. I already felt horrible after I hit you, and hearing father say that made it all that much worse." Elsa buried her face in her hands.

Anna hugged her sister close, and Elsa didn't try to pull away. "Wait a minute…Elsa, didn't you ever tell our parents that the accident wasn't your fault? If I remember correctly, you shouted 'Wait! Slow down!' and I didn't listen. So it was actually my fault, not yours."

Elsa thought for a minute before replying. She genuinely had never thought about the whole incident that way. Sure, she remembered shouting 'Wait! Slow down!', but she had always blamed herself for slipping (on her own ice) and not reacting fast enough. _But Anna's right...she has a point... _"Anna…I don't think they would have listened even if I _had_ thought to say that. All they saw was ice and snow all over the ballroom from their abnormal daughter and their normal, proper one lying unconscious with a white streak in her hair. Do you really think they would have believed me if I went and said 'It wasn't my fault! It was Anna's!'? And Anna, our parents never did like my 'special abilities' very much. I remember always being told never to do anything outside the castle because it wasn't proper. I think the accident was just the last straw…"

Anna frowned. She didn't remember their parents that way from before the accident, but she did vaguely recall being annoyed when they were outside the castle and Elsa refused to make snowflakes and gave lame excuses for why she couldn't.

Elsa continued, "…and I also remember overhearing them talk about trying to find a 'cure' for my 'disability' both before and after the accident. Before, I was too naïve to realize what it meant; but after, I thought I knew only too well. I'd hurt you, I couldn't control it, and I know now that 'conceal, don't feel' only made things worse."

"Elsa…you _have_ to be remembering something wrong. I can't believe our parents would think or say those things about you. You aren't abnormal, and you don't need to be 'cured' of anything. Besides, it's stupid-it's impossible to take away something that makes part of you _you._" Something inside Anna's mind argued back, _They ARE the same ones who kept two little girls apart for years, never told one of them why, and made the other completely scared of herself._

"Anna, I'm not remembering wrong. They're just facts-our parents never really approved of me, they did not like my powers, and they wanted to find a way to get rid of them," Elsa said in a detached voice, as if she had reconciled herself with the facts long ago. "I believe they did what they thought was best for the two of us at the time, but it just plain wasn't. Now if you don't mind, I would like to end this topic of conversation, at least for now. I can't be thinking about things like this at that meeting. I'll end up appearing vulnerable, and that is the absolute _last_ thing we need right now."

Anna made a face as she thought about what Elsa had just said. "Our parents were _awful_ to us, especially you, Elsa! 'Conceal, don't feel', my foot! What kind of horrid advice is that, especially to an eight-year-old?! The only way I can see that being useful is if you're dealing with some rotten creep and you don't want them to know what you're thinking or feeling. Other than that, it's dumb and horrid. And why didn't they at least TELL ME WHY we were separated all that time?! We could have passed notes under the door, or talked through the door or something. The few times we did, we got in huge trouble. I could have helped you figure out how to control it, even if we were just communicating through the door. And hey, I just thought of something else-love thaws! That proves they weren't good to you 'cause you would have figured it out ages ago otherwise! And you can't go have some negotiation meeting with those Weaseltown and Southern Isles jerks on their flagship! It's not safe!" Anna exclaimed, running her sentences together all in a rush.

Elsa listened to Anna's ranting without a word. When Anna stopped talking, Elsa said, "You made some good points, Anna, but the past is in the past. We can't go back and change it. Let's move on-I _really_ don't want to discuss this anymore. And this meeting is only for negotiation purposes; I am not going down there to fight. You are queen regent while I am gone. Should something go awry, should I become captured for any reason…you are not to capitulate to any demands they may make. Do not surrender or make a rescue attempt. It would not be in their best interest to get rid of me, because then they would be permanently frozen in the fjord. Do you understand?"

"Yes…but I still don't like this…" Anna said.

"I _will_ be back. Don't forget, I'm playing a tyrant when I meet them, so it is very possible that they just give up this whole thing because they'll be scared of me. Goodness, I never thought I would actually want people to think of me that way…" Elsa trailed off.

Anna gave Elsa a hug.

"Thank you, Anna."

**A/N: Next chapter coming soon! I guess I made a mistake...the action is in the next chapter, not this one like I thought. Oops! Anyway, this is MantaI305Apollo'sChariot signing off for now, over and out!:)**


	20. Chapter 19-Day Ten, Part 2

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who's reading but not reviewing, and everyone who's followed/favorited.**

**Ok, so now we start getting the "exciting" part.:) On to the story!**

Chapter 19-Day Ten, Part 2

A little while later (after Elsa had eaten her breakfast), Elsa and a single guard made their way down to the fjord, to the flagship for the negotiation meeting. As the two came up the gangplank to the deck, Boris gave a greeting. "Well, well, how nice to see you, Elsa! I am King Boris of the Southern Isles."

Elsa thought for a moment. A tyrant would be angry for not being referred to by proper title, right? "My name is Queen Elsa of Arendelle, _Boris._"

Boris was taken aback at Elsa's rejoinder. He _was_ a bit frightened of her, but he'd also expected someone a bit more demure. She was just a girl, for goodness sakes! And she was not acting anything like his son Hans had described. He had better move his trap along quickly before she caught on… "Ah, well, we all make mistakes, Queen Elsa. Shall we proceed with negotiations?"

"If we must, we must. You may start. What are your terms of negoti-" Elsa's question was cut short as a wooden beam hurtled down from above and hit her in the head. Elsa crumpled to the deck, unconscious.

"You…you…you did that on purpose!" Elsa's guard exploded. He knelt down and shook Elsa's shoulder. "Queen Elsa, please come to…"

"Yep, I most certainly did," Boris said nonchalantly. "Now lay down your arms and bring her with you. Follow me."

Instead of laying down his arms, Elsa's guard drew his sword.

"Don't bother. One against fifty? I daresay that would be an idiotic move, especially when you don't have any icy help."

Elsa's guard was no idiot; he knew when he was licked. He'd probably get both Elsa and himself killed if he protested much more. Reluctantly, he laid his sword on the deck and picked up Elsa. "Where are you taking us?"

Boris grinned nastily. "I'm going to put her away where she belongs. I haven't decided what to do with you yet. You can just stay with her in the meantime." He steered Elsa's guard through the decks of the ship down to a small room.

Elsa's guard recoiled when he saw the inside. It looked an awful lot like the castle dungeon cell, except instead of a lattice window on one side, there was a large porthole. "In…there?" He was afraid Elsa might be very upset if she came to in that room.

"Where did you think you were going, first-class accommodations? Get in there."

The guard carried Elsa inside and gently laid her down on the single cot in the room. Then he stood protectively in front of her.

"What are you doing? I'm not leaving her free in here; the second she wakes up she can freeze the door off or something. Move over." Boris pushed the guard out of the way and fastened shackles over Elsa's hands and wrists.

"Did you really have to do that? She never did anything to you!"

Boris scoffed and left the room, locking the door behind him.

* * *

><p>A few minutes later, Elsa stirred. She blinked in confusion at the drab ceiling above her. <em>Where am I? <em>Elsa was disoriented, and her mind felt fuzzy. Why did her hands feel all heavy and constricted? _Wait; is this the castle dungeon? Why am I here? Maybe this is a strange nightmare._ Elsa slowly turned her head and saw the guard she'd brought to the ship. _This is no dream. This is not the castle dungeon._ The last thing she remembered was getting ready to ask King Boris about terms of negotiation, and then what? Somehow she must have gotten knocked out and brought here. _I'm on King Boris's ship. Yes, that must be it. There's a porthole over there._ "How long have I been out?" she asked the guard.

The guard, who had been absorbed in thinking about how to get out of there, jumped at the sound of Elsa's voice. "Not long. Probably ten or fifteen minutes, tops. I apologize for not being able to stop this…there was this wooden beam that fell out of nowhere before I could warn you or say a word."

"Don't apologize. We're going to get out of here-I just need to think of a plan." Elsa pulled herself to a sitting position and looked around the small, dirty room they were in. "Well, they sure didn't waste accommodations on us, did they," she quipped. She was so happy they were not in the castle dungeon that she was in _much_ better spirits than she might have been otherwise.

The guard couldn't believe Elsa was joking, considering the situation they were in. "Uh, I don't want to be the one to ruin the mood, but Queen Elsa, do you…do you realize, well…THAT?" He gestured to the metal shackles binding Elsa's hands and wrists.

"Oh, you mean these?" Elsa held up her hands. Lowering her voice to a whisper, she added, "Is there anyone outside guarding the door? I don't think the chains are long enough for me to check myself."

The guard walked over to the door and looked through the bars at the top. "No, there's not."

"Good. I'm going to whisper anyway, just in case. Come here, please." Elsa smiled and said, "I can break out of these easily in just a few seconds. And I will, as soon as we finalize an escape plan."

The guard was surprised but happy at Elsa's announcement. "And the plan?"

"Well, first question-how far above the ice is that porthole? We're going to climb out there if it's not too high up."

"Looks like it's just four or five feet," the guard said as he peered out the porthole.

"Perfect. We will escape while they have dinner this evening, because they'll all be occupied then," Elsa explained. "We'll have to stay here all day, but that's the best I can come up with…"

The rattle of keys in the locked door interrupted their hushed conversation. Elsa immediately stood up and prepared for playing the tyrant again. Boris sauntered in, grinning. "Nice to see you awake again, Elsa. I hope you two are enjoying the accommodations."

Elsa thought for a moment. _You're playing a part, Elsa. What would a locked-up tyrant say?_ "Oh, yes of course. This place is just lovely," she said sarcastically. "Nice to see you awake, too, Boris. You know, I can't decide whether your name is Boris because you're boring or because you're like a boorish boar. Like a pig." _I didn't know I could even think of a statement like that!_

Elsa's guard could hardly contain his laughter. He knew Elsa was just acting, but still…hearing sweet, polite Elsa say a statement like that was unexpected and hilarious.

Boris, however, was not so amused. "How dare you say something like that to me!" He moved toward Elsa, hand raised as if to slap her.

Elsa's piercing gaze was unwavering, daring him to follow though with that move. "I promise you will not like the results if you follow through with that." _Please don't do it…_ Elsa felt like her heart would beat right out of her chest. "I'll freeze you where you stand!" she bluffed. "And how dare YOU lock me up like this for no reason. Nobody locks up the Snow Queen and gets away with it!" she added.

"Just how do you think that's going to work? You have to use your hands to do that," Boris tossed back, but he did back away from Elsa. _Maybe she's able to freeze things some other way,_ he thought. "And I've already gotten away with it. I don't see you escaping, do I?" Boris said.

"What do you take me for, an imbecile? That I would make an escape attempt in broad daylight? And if you think this little ploy of yours will make me surrender, you are wrong. I will never surrender to you. You'll have to kill me first, which you cannot do because then you will be permanently frozen in the fjord with this twenty degree temperature," Elsa finished triumphantly.

Boris smirked, as if Elsa had let him in on the secret of the century. Then, remembering how his son Hans had described Elsa's fragile personality originally a month before, he said, "No, I don't take you for an imbecile. You're just a monster." _She's not acting anything like Hans described…I have to get her that way, or I will never win, because as much as I hate to admit it, we'll freeze to death if we're stuck here…_

A hurt expression flashed across Elsa's face and was just as quickly replaced with a stony look. _I have to get him out of here before I ruin everything. If he finds out I'm just acting…_

Boris kept going. "You're an abnormal freak. Your sister should be ruling Arendelle instead of you."

That accusation cut Elsa to the quick, and she felt her faux persona beginning to crumble. _Don't let him get to you, Elsa. He's trying to prey on your weaknesses._ She took a deep breath before saying, "Your nasty comments will never hurt me. Did you pick up those names from your little friend, the Duke of Weasel-oh sorry-Weselton?"

Once again, she'd surprised Boris. He was stewing mad. He'd just played his final trump card, and it had failed. There stood Elsa in front of him, looking by all appearances as impassive as ever; although if he had known Elsa's real feelings, he would have seen that she was crying on the inside. He would have to think of something else. "I shall leave you now. Don't try any funny business. There will be a soldier standing guard in the hall. I shall be back tomorrow morning." He left the room and locked the door once more.

The second the door was locked and the footsteps faded away down the hall, Elsa dropped her act. "I didn't think I could keep up that façade much longer. He knew exactly what to say that would mess with my head. I did _not_ need to hear that." She sat down on the cot and pulled her knees to her chest, determined not to cry. "And these stupid shackles are uncomfortable and tight. Especially since I know I can easily get them off." Elsa wiggled her cramped fingers as much as she could.

"Am I supposed to reply to all that?" Elsa's guard asked her.

"No. I'm just venting. Do you know what time it is, by the way?"

"According to my watch, it is just after 11AM."

"We have about seven hours or so to go yet, then…"

They fell silent as they heard footsteps coming down the hall that stopped just outside the door. The minutes passed slowly. Elsa counted the rivets surrounding the porthole. The guard paced back and forth across the small room. They traded places. The guard counted the rivets surrounding the porthole. Elsa paced back and forth across the room until the noise of the chains rattling began driving her crazy. They had staring contests (after Elsa convinced her guard that this was perfectly fine due to extenuating circumstances). Finally, Elsa decided she would just take a nap. She was exhausted from staying up all night keeping watch the night before, and that would be sure to pass the time. When Elsa woke up, it was 5PM. "One hour," she mouthed.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, back at the castle, Anna was worried. How long could a negotiation meeting last? "Do you think something happened to Elsa?" she asked Gerda.<p>

"Queen Elsa will be back soon," Gerda said, hoping she was telling the truth.

"But how do you know for sure? She can't have been holding a negotiation meeting for this long! What if Elsa is hurt or something? Those creeps could have been leading her into a trap!"

"It is possible," Gerda said carefully. "But your sister can defend herself. Didn't she promise she would come back?"

"Well, yeah…But I want Elsa back now!"

**A/N: I'd really really appreciate a review, even if you don't like the story.:) Maybe I can improve something:)**

**Next chapter coming soon!**


	21. Chapter 20-Day Ten, Part 3

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who's followed/favorited and/or is reading but not reviewing!:)**

**princessdianaofparadiseisland-Lol, I think that part was funny; I laughed when I wrote it.;) Yeah, Anna shouldn't go run after Elsa...read on and see if she does.;) **

**On to the story!:)**

Chapter 20-Day Ten, Part 3

At 6PM, Elsa and her guard heard the soldier guarding the room they were locked in leave for dinner. They waited to see if someone else would take his place. No one did. "How incompetent of them," Elsa commented. "They must assume that since we haven't made an escape attempt yet, we don't intend to. Well, that makes this that much easier for us. Ready?"

"I've been ready since we became locked in here."

"Let's go." Elsa easily cracked the metal shackles just enough to slide her hands out. She didn't want to waste energy shattering them completely, and besides, that would have made too much noise. Elsa flexed her hands, making a face at the sore red marks on both wrists, and then froze the door to the room shut. Then she made an ice statue in one of the dark corners that looked just like her guard, and another that looked like herself curled up on the cot.

"What was that for?" Elsa's guard asked.

"So that on first glance through the bars on the door, it looks like we are still in here. It will buy us a little extra time. Come on, let's get out of here." Elsa opened the porthole and climbed through, landing sprawled on the ice outside. Her guard followed after her.

Keeping their heads low, they crept along the outside of the ship toward the shore and safety. Soon they had to leave the shadow of the ship out onto the open ice, though. They heard an angry shout of, "They escaped! Look, out on the fjord!" behind them and "I thought you had her chained up securely!"

"Run!" Elsa called frantically. She'd gone only a few feet farther when she heard the crack of gunfire sound through the air. Bullets whistled past just overhead. Elsa immediately dropped flat on the ice. _My ice can be impenetrable, but I'm not. _The guard stood protectively over her. "Are you crazy?! Get down!" Elsa said, yanking her guard down onto the ice next to her.

"I can't protect you from here!"

"Well, a lot of good you'll do me dead. Stay down!"

"They're going to hit us eventually if we stay here…this isn't safe."

"I know. I have an idea." Elsa flipped over onto her back and made a wide ice archway above and around them, tall enough to stand up in. "We're going to just walk nonchalantly back to the castle. I will extend the archway as we go." She stood up and started walking towards the shore. The guard followed behind her.

* * *

><p>On the flagship, Boris and the Duke of Weselton were seething. Elsa had given them the slip, and there was nothing they could do about it. Their bullets bounced harmlessly off Elsa's ice archway, which now looked more like a tunnel. Once Elsa and her guard had reached the shore, Elsa made a very tall, transparent but still impermeable, ice wall all the way from the castle to across the entire border of the fjord, effectively blocking off Arendelle entirely from the fjord. Then she made a small hole in the wall at her own shoulder height and dissolved the archway-tunnel they'd used to reach safety. "Is there a spyglass on hand in the castle?"<p>

"Yes…why?"

"Please fetch it. You'll see in a minute," Elsa said.

The guard was back with the spyglass in less than five minutes. "Here, Queen Elsa."

"Thank you." Elsa looked through it, narrowing in on the flagship. With careful precision, she iced over each cannon completely, rendering them useless. Then she did the same to the other nineteen ships in the fleet. Elsa smiled with satisfaction. "Now we wait for the word of surrender."

"Surrender?" the guard questioned. "Why would they do that now all of a sudden?"

"Because I just disabled all their cannons," Elsa said.

* * *

><p>On the ships, everyone was shocked. How had she done that from that far of a distance? King Boris and the Duke of Weselton were livid; Elsa had made them look like nincompoops. She had soundly overpowered their grand military forces entirely without ever engaging in battle. Boris knew he could not win at this point; their main weapons were unusable, it was freezing cold, and they were running out of supplies. He just wanted to get home without turning into a popsicle. "We surrender!" he yelled.<p>

"We do?" the Duke asked.

"Yes, we do. Do you really think we stand a chance to win at this point? Arendelle hasn't fired a single shot, and look at the position we're in."

* * *

><p>Elsa heard the king's yell. "What did I just say would happen?" she asked her guard good-naturedly. "If you surrender, come lay down all your arms here in front of me," she yelled back. "Please go get Princess Anna," she told her guard in a normal voice. "And bring some paper and a pen, too."<p>

The guard left and returned with Anna and the paper and pen. Anna promptly grabbed Elsa's hand and said rather loudly, "I missed you! You were gone _all day!_ Hey, what is that from?" Anna eyed a raw spot on Elsa's wrist.

"What? Oh, that. I'll tell you later, Anna. Just not here," Elsa replied.

"All right."

Elsa made a document-sized ice sheet and wrote up a short treaty that set trade embargoes on the Southern Isles and Weselton, but also disallowed Arendelle from exporting its own products to Weselton and the Southern Isles. This way, the treaty severed ties completely, and did not simply terminate Weselton's and the Southern Isles' exports to Arendelle. She thought this might sound fairer to Boris and the duke. Then she wrote out two more copies. "What do you think, Anna?"

"I think I don't know what an embargo is," Anna said.

"This treaty just cuts ties completely with the Southern Isles and Weselton. We make no imports or exports to them, and they make none to us," Elsa explained. "Of course, technically Arendelle already does not conduct any business with Weselton…"

"Sounds fine to me…except won't that affect OUR economy? Like mess it up?"

"No. We're going to open up trade with the United States instead. Arendelle will be just as prosperous as it is now."

Soon, all the enemy soldiers had laid so many arms down that there was a large pile on the other side of Elsa's see-through ice wall. King Boris and the Duke of Weselton laid theirs down last.

"Now, everyone, hands up," Elsa said sternly. "King Boris, Duke…you do know I would be fully within my rights to freeze the lot of you, but I have a much better solution." She handed the treaty through the small hole in the ice wall to Boris and waited for his answer.

"May we have a minute to discuss this?" Boris asked.

"Yes," Elsa said.

The two read Elsa's treaty through. "That's all she's going to do to us?" the duke asked. "It's really rather…lenient, all things considering." Boris was just as confused. He had fully expected Elsa to demand some exorbitant monetary settlement or something, on top of what was in the treaty. "I agree. I can't figure her out." He raised his voice slightly to tell Elsa, "We most certainly accept."

A happy smile lit up Elsa's face. "Then sign there at the bottom, please, on all three copies."

Boris and the duke signed, and handed the treaty back to Elsa. Elsa added her own signature, and then Anna signed as well. "After all, you are second-in-command," Elsa told Anna. "Here are your copies," Elsa said, handing two of the copies to Boris and the duke. She dissolved the transparent ice wall and stepped forward to shake their hands. "We can maintain an armed neutrality, yes?" Elsa reverted the 20-degree temperature back to its original summer one.

An astonished Boris and duke shook Elsa's hand. Boris realized that Elsa had been putting on a front all day, actually since his arrival. She was no tyrant; he could see that. But she would do whatever was best for her kingdom. "We appreciate your gracious reaction."

"You are welcome. If you and your men return to your ships, I will unfreeze the fjord so you can return home," Elsa said.

All the soldiers returned to their respective ships, along with Boris and the duke. Elsa looked through her spyglass to see when they were all aboard their ships. Then she unfroze the fjord. The twenty ships bobbed gently in the water as their sails unfurled. Elsa, Anna, and the guard watched until the ships moved out of sight.

* * *

><p>"Now let's return everything to normal!" Elsa said cheerfully. She dissolved all the ice defenses, the ice on the houses and buildings, and the ice on the streets. To the guard she said, "Please send a few messengers to every house in Arendelle to inform everyone that the crisis is over and everything is back to normal." To Anna she said, "If you still want to know what I was doing all day, let's go home and I'll tell you over dinner. I am so hungry-I haven't eaten anything since breakfast early this morning."<p>

"Since this morning?! Let's go eat right now!" Anna took off running back to the castle, pulling Elsa behind her. "Gerda probably has dinner on the table now-it was almost finished when I came down here."

"Slow down, Anna, you're going to make me trip! And please let go of my wrist," Elsa said.

"Oh, sorry, Elsa. I forgot. Maybe Gerda has some salve or something to put on it," Anna said as she slowed down to a walk.

"No, don't ask her! I don't like being fussed over, and you _know_ that's what she'll do. It just smarts a little bit; it's fine," Elsa replied.

"I still want to know what happened to you and what you were doing all day in the first place."

"Well, most of the day I was locked in this nasty little room on King Boris's flagship, if you must know. That room had an uncanny resemblance to that castle dungeon cell, too, almost creepy. Same design, same shackles, same door, same everything except there was a porthole instead of a lattice window," Elsa explained.

"What?! I _knew_ you couldn't have been having a negotiation meeting all this time!" Anna suddenly thought of something. "I think I know exactly where those red marks came from. Show me your other one." Anna grabbed Elsa's other hand and looked at her wrist. The angry red marks lining Elsa's pale skin were nearly identical to the ones on her other wrist. "Elsa, you spent who knows how long today chained up in some icky little room while I sat around and did nothing! I should have come after you!"

"No, Anna, you did exactly what you were supposed to do, which was, in fact, nothing. They would have _wanted_ you to come after me so they could capture you and then use you as a bargaining piece to get me to yield to whatever demands they came up with. Besides, if that had happened, it also would have been much harder to escape. I would have not only had to worry about myself and the guard, but you too," Elsa assured her sister.

"Huh. The guard was supposed to take care of you, not the other way around," Anna remarked. "How did you get captured in the first place? And why did you wait all day before escaping?"

"Let's see…I said all of two sentences when I arrived on that ship before getting knocked out by some wooden beam that fell right on top of me. The next thing I knew, I was locked up in that little room. And I waited all day so they would all be occupied with dinner, thus leaving less of a chance to get caught escaping through that porthole," Elsa explained as they headed inside the castle to the dining hall.

"You were really clever to think that far ahead, Elsa. I think I would have immediately busted out of there without thinking about what might happen afterwards," Anna said as they walked into the dining hall.

"Thanks, Anna. But if I were really clever, I would have come up with an escape plan that didn't require staying there all day."

"Maybe, but the big thing is that it was a successful escape plan, right? Way more than successful, in fact: you got them to surrender immediately after!"

"That's true, I suppose," Elsa said. "Thank you for dinner, Gerda," she added as Gerda set a delicious-smelling plate in front of her.

"So, Elsa, what funny things did you say to them when you were doing your tyrant act?" Anna asked as she took a large mouthful of her dinner.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Anna," Elsa told her sister. "What do you mean, funny things?"

"Anything and everything you said when you were acting!"

"Well, I called King Boris just 'Boris' when he called me just 'Elsa'. Does that count?" Elsa asked. Then she added in a hoity-toity voice, "My name is Queen Elsa of Arendelle, _Boris._"

Anna started giggling. "Tell me some more!"

"Ok, what else did I say that was actually funny…" Elsa thought for a moment before saying, "You know, I can't decide if your name is Boris because you're boring, or because you're a boorish boar. Like a pig."

Anna nearly spit out her milk laughing. "Elsa, that was the BEST LINE EVER! How did you come up with that? Gerda, were you listening?"

"I don't know. Probably because he really was acting rather boorish, I suppose," Elsa said as she reached for her own glass of milk.

"Not really, Miss Anna. I assumed you two were having a private conversation," Gerda said. "Miss Elsa, what's that on your wrist?"

Elsa promptly set her milk down and ducked both hands under the table. "It's nothing."

"If it was nothing, you wouldn't have jerked your hands under the table like that. May I please see, Miss Elsa?" Gerda asked.

Elsa reluctantly took her hands out from under the table. "See, it's nothing, nothing at all."

"That isn't 'nothing', Miss Elsa!" Gerda frowned as she looked at the red marks on Elsa's wrists. "It's all red and inflamed. What happened? Just a minute, I have just the thing to put on that." Gerda hurried out of the dining hall.

"_This_ is why I didn't want you to tell Gerda anything about it," Elsa said. "Good grief, you'd think I broke my arm or something the way Gerda is carrying on!"

Anna giggled. "Looks like I didn't need to say anything anyway."

They continued eating in silence for the next couple of minutes.

"Here, Miss Elsa, this will help," Gerda said as she came back. "May I please see again?"

"All right…" Elsa let Gerda dab the salve on her wrists. She involuntarily flinched as Gerda touched a particularly tender spot.

"Sorry," Gerda apologized. "Ok, all finished. Don't go wash it all off when you go upstairs. Does it feel at least a little better now?"

"Actually, it does. Thank you, Gerda." Elsa had to admit it; it didn't sting at all anymore. _Well, unless I touch it, which I'm just not going to do, _she thought. Whatever was in that stuff must work fast.

"Dessert?" Anna asked suddenly.

"Oh, yes, Miss Anna. Coming right up," Gerda said. She came back a minute later with a bowl of ice cream for both Elsa and Anna.

"Mint chocolate chip, my favorite!" Elsa said.

"Butter pecan, MY favorite!" Anna said.

Gerda smiled. "You two still have the same favorite flavors you did when you were little."

"We do? Hey yeah, we do, Elsa!" Anna realized. "I remember one time when we were four and seven, and we snuck down to the kitchen in the middle of the night. You ate a whole container of mint chocolate chip ice cream, and I thought that kind was nasty, so you pulled out another container of ice cream and it happened to be butter pecan. That was how I found out butter pecan was my favorite!"

Elsa had to think for a minute before remembering what Anna was talking about. _This is an actual good memory for once. _"And we fell asleep on the floor and got in big trouble the next morning. You didn't eat all the ice cream in your container, so it melted all over the place while we were sleeping. Ironic, considering I could have prevented the mess in the first place if you'd fallen asleep first, before I did. I remember we had to clean up the mess and we couldn't have any ice cream for a week. And I got a lecture on how I was supposed to be making a good example for you."

Anna remembered what Elsa had said that morning about what their parents had thought of Elsa and decided to change the subject. Elsa didn't look like she was thinking about anything that troubled her, but Anna didn't want to take the chance that she would. Anna had noticed that sometimes things that seemingly had absolutely nothing to do with bad memories would set Elsa off and make her upset. So Anna said, "Can I try a bite of your ice cream? Maybe my taste buds have matured a little since I was four."

"A _little_ bite. Don't take a heaping mouthful like you're doing with yours." Elsa pushed her bowl of ice cream over to Anna.

Anna took a medium-sized bite of Elsa's mint chocolate chip ice cream. "Blah, I still don't like it!" She pushed the bowl back over to Elsa.

Elsa giggled. "Some things never change! Well, at least I never need worry about you eating my ice cream."

Anna ate a large spoonful of her own ice cream and swallowed it too fast. "Ack, brain freeze, brain freeze!"

Elsa was alarmed before realizing what Anna was really referring to. "I wonder if it's possible for me to get a brain freeze?" she asked to no one in particular.

"There's only one way to find out!" Anna said mischievously. "How about an ice cream eating race?"

"What? That is so…so…"

"Improper? And who cares, may I ask? Nobody's in here right now but us, not even Gerda. She's taking our dinner dishes back to the kitchen."

"Well…all right. But wait a minute; you have far less ice cream left than I do. Yours is almost gone!" Elsa said.

"I'll give you a ten second head start, then. Ok?"

"All right."

"On your marks, get set, go!" Anna then counted to ten out loud. Then she dug back in to her own bowl.

A few seconds later, they both set their spoons down simultaneously and said, "Done!"

"That was actually rather fun, but I did _not_ get a brain freeze, and I was eating as fast as I could," Elsa said. "I think it's impossible for me to get one."

"Luckyyy," Anna replied. "I like eating ice cream fast and I always end up with a brain freeze when I do that." She started laughing and added, "We should have an ice cream eating contest for the Annual Crocus Festival. You would win easily simply because you don't get brain freezes!"

"Anna, that is a terrible idea. I will not participate in an ice cream eating contest in public! Besides, I probably have an unfair advantage anyway," Elsa said. "Let's help Gerda and take our dessert dishes to the kitchen. Then I'm going upstairs."

"You don't have to do that," Gerda said as she came into the dining hall. "I'll take them."

"Oh. All right. In that case, I think I shall head upstairs for the evening. I'm a little tired," Elsa said as she stifled a yawn. She headed out of the dining hall, looking forward to sleeping in her nice, cozy bed.

* * *

><p>Back in the dining hall, Anna jumped out of her chair and knocked it over. "Oops. I'm going to go upstairs with Elsa," she announced.<p>

"Please don't bother your sister, Miss Anna. She stayed up all night last night from what you told me, and who knows what she was doing all day today, although I have my suspicions," Gerda told Anna. "Let her sleep. I can tell she's really very tired even though she tries to hide it."

"I'm not going to bother Elsa! I just want to sit and talk to her." Anna was put out by the suggestion. "And Elsa told me she got knocked out when she was down on that ship this morning. Then when she came to, she was chained up in some icky little room. I'm sure you figured the rest-Elsa escaped and got them to surrender right afterwards. Everything's back to normal now."

"Miss Anna, if you're talking to her, she can't go to sleep," Gerda said patiently. "Perhaps you might read a book while you sit in your sister's room? And my goodness, but that sounds awfully similar to something else that happened before…" Gerda's voice trailed off into silence.

"What sounds like something that happened before?"

"That whole getting knocked out and coming to locked up thing. That's happened to Miss Elsa before."

Anna looked completely baffled. "When would that have happened to Elsa before?"

"Your sister never told you?" _Well, why would she have told Anna; Elsa never brings up painful memories voluntarily,_ Gerda thought. "After she ran away to the North Mountain, the Duke of Weselton sent his guards after her when Prince Hans left to look for you. I don't know all the details, but somehow she got knocked out and they brought her back here and locked her in the castle dungeon. There was nothing I could do to prevent it. To be quite honest, I'm surprised your sister was able to hold it together today when she woke up in that situation. You know how certain things tend to make her upset."

Anna frowned. "That's awful! And that must be what Elsa was referring to earlier when she said that room on the ship had an uncanny resemblance to the castle dungeon. She was all like, 'It was completely IDENTICAL except there was a porthole instead of a lattice window!' I was wondering why she had such a detailed picture of what the castle dungeon looked like. I mean, I don't think I've ever even been down there in my whole life." She smiled as she thought of something else. "Well, I think I know why Elsa didn't lose it today. She knew she could break out of there-she just needed to figure out _how_ to do so without getting caught! And all right-I'll go upstairs and read a book. But if Elsa's still awake, I want to talk to her! Good night, Gerda." Anna ran out of the dining hall and upstairs.

**A/N: Yeah, Elsa and Anna have the same favorite kinds of ice cream as my sis and I.;) Anna, you and my sister are weird for not liking mint chocolate chip ice cream! BEST. FLAVOR. EVER.:) Anyway...**

**Next chapter coming soon!:)**


	22. Chapter 21-Day Ten, Part 4

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who's followed/favorited and/or is reading but not reviewing!:)**

**bananas-rule-2015-YAY MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP ICE CREAM FANS UNITE!;)XDXD Ok, I'll stop being crazy Hmm, good point...the surrendering army probably should have done that if they really wanted to try defeating Elsa.:P But they did sign a treaty. That might make a good alternate timeline...actually it WOULD be good but I don't want to do that to Elsa and her friends.:P**

**Yikes, this chapter is insanely short. APOLOGIES.:/ The next chapter will be much, much longer.:)**

Chapter 21-Day Ten, Part 4

Elsa was sound asleep when Anna tiptoed into the room. It was dark since Elsa hadn't left a lamp on. Anna stubbed her toes on something cold and hard in the middle of the floor. "Ow!" she shouted without thinking.

A startled Elsa sat straight up in bed and accidentally shot an icicle at the opposite wall. "What's going on?! Who's there? Get out of my castle, intruders!" Still half asleep, Elsa blinked at the darkness and held up her hands in a defensive position. "I can and will defend myself," she threatened.

Anna was tempted for a moment to pretend to be an intruder and find out what Elsa was going to do to defend herself, but Anna really did not want to get buried in snow or something, which was probably what Elsa would do. _Besides, that'd be really mean to scare Elsa like that. _"Elsa! You don't have to freak out. Uh, it's just me, Anna. I tripped on something you left in the middle of the floor," Anna said, trying to calm Elsa down.

"Anna?" Elsa fumbled to light the kerosene lamp on her nightstand.

"So that's what I ran into," Anna said, looking at the ice helicopter scale model sitting on the floor.

"Where did that come from?" Elsa said, pointing at the icicle embedded in the opposite wall.

"You did that 'cause I startled you and woke you up."

"Oh, fine. Now there's going to be a hole in the wall over there." Elsa got up, walked over to the icicle, and yanked it out. Sure enough, there was a hole in the wall where the icicle had been. "Well, I'll just patch it, I suppose." Elsa dissolved the icicle, then filled in the hole with new ice. She climbed back into bed and pulled the covers up to her chin, even though she wasn't cold. "Good night, Anna. Turn out the lamp when you go to sleep."

"Ok, I will. Elsa, can we go to Cedar Point tomorrow?" Anna asked.

"I don't know…maybe…" Elsa burrowed farther under the covers. "Oh yeah…I forgot to tell you…it's going to rain…don't know if it'll stop by morning or not."

"Well, I was thinking, you know they probably have different money over there and so ours won't be any good. How are we going to pay for our tickets and stuff?" Anna paused, then added, "Hey, Miss Weather Forecaster, why didn't you tell me about the rain earlier?" Anna knew Elsa could 'feel' upcoming weather storm patterns, but Elsa didn't always announce her predictions.

"Whatever it is, ask me tomorrow." Elsa put her pillow over her head.

"Will you let me steer the ice helicopter?"

"Anna, please, I'm _trying_ to go to sleep! Uh, let's see…maybe we can use gold bars for money because those are valuable anywhere. And no, you cannot steer the ice helicopter. Now please let me go to sleep, all right?"

"Oh, all right. Good night, Elsa." Anna fell asleep to the sound of a sudden summer rainstorm outside. _Just as Elsa predicted, _Anna thought. _I hope it's gone by morning._

**A/N: Argh, I can't wait till Elsa and Anna get to go to Cedar Point! Lol:P**

**Yes, Elsa can predict storms. (Think how you can 'smell' rain coming except much stronger and more definite.;)**

**Next chapter coming ASAP!:) Maybe I should have just attached this chapter to the previous one...**


	23. Chapter 22-Day Eleven, Part 1

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who's followed/favorited and/or is reading but not reviewing!:)**

**bananas-rule-2015-Lol, email companies ALWAYS put the wrong emails in spam.:P I actually like long reviews...;)**

**princessdianaofparadiseisland-Well, Elsa and Anna are going to Cedar Point in this chapter...so read and find out!XD**

**On to the story!:) (I have shamelessly stuck my sister and me in this chapter, but this is the ONLY chapter we're in, and I didn't give us names; so no worries needed that I've done a really bad self-insert for an OC.:))**

**DISCLAIMER: I have actually never been to Cedar Point.:( (I wish I had, though...;)) So I apologize if Elsa and Anna are going through the park back and forth with no rhyme or reason from one ride to another.:P Ride descriptions are based off POV videos on youtube and my knowledge from ride elements off rides I have been on. I'm very, very sorry if anything seems "off" from what it's like in real life.:P**

Chapter 22-Day Eleven, Part 1

Early the next morning, Anna woke to the light pitter-patter of rain on the windows. The rain had slacked off overnight, but it was still wet and sloppy outside. _Grrr, now Elsa won't want to go to Cedar Point today, _Anna thought. Still, maybe they could still go-it was very early and it was just drizzling. "Elsa? Let's get ready to go to Cedar Point!"

"Anna, go back to sleep," Elsa murmured.

"No, no, no, don't start that again, Elsa!" Anna said as she shook Elsa's shoulder, remembering what happened when Elsa had said that the morning before.

Elsa blinked sleepily at Anna. "Why are you up so early?"

"Cedar Point, that's why! We're going today, right?"

"Isn't it raining? We don't even know if the park still runs in the rain," Elsa said.

"Well, it's just drizzling. And look, it's clearing up some," Anna replied as a little sunrise shone through the window.

"In that case, I say let's go!" Elsa hopped out of bed and ran over to her closet, pulling out the 'Anna ice dress' she'd made when Anna let her copy a dress design.

"Elsa, tell me you're not wearing that to an amusement park."

"Why not?"

"Um, 'cause it's kind of fancy! Don't you have any casual summery dresses?" Without waiting for an answer, Anna stuck her head in Elsa's closet and pulled out a turquoise dress that looked a lot like Anna's favorite green summer casual dress. "Here, wear this one. You know, I don't think I've ever even seen that dress before."

"Do you think it's nice enough?" Elsa asked.

"We don't have to dress up today-I don't think anyone will even recognize us at the park anyway," Anna said.

"_This_ is going to give us away." Elsa waved her platinum braid at Anna. "I've never ever seen anyone else with hair the same color as mine."

"Well, even if someone does recognize us, it doesn't matter. Even royalty should get to have fun sometimes!"

"I suppose." Elsa took the turquoise dress Anna had picked out. "Anna, you're fussing at me to get ready and you aren't ready yourself."

"Oh, yeah, oops. I'll be right back!" Anna ran out of Elsa's room to her own.

After Elsa got dressed and brushed out her hair and redid her braid, she unlocked the safe in her room, pulling out four small gold bars. _And of course this dress had to not have pockets._ Elsa certainly did not want to carry gold bars around loose all day-she might lose them and it wasn't safe. "All right, fine, I'll just make something to carry them in," she said aloud. She made an icy fabric pouch just large enough to hold the gold bars and hung it around her neck like a necklace. "Perfect."

* * *

><p>Ten minutes later, Elsa and Anna were outside in the castle courtyard. "I just have to make the ice helicopter and then we can go," Elsa said. "Why don't you go let Gerda know we'll be gone for the day?"<p>

"Ok." Anna ran back inside.

When Anna came back, a sleek, translucent blue helicopter was in the middle of the courtyard. "Wow," she breathed.

Elsa was carrying pails of water out of the rain barrel and dumping them into the fuel tank, freezing the fuel as she did so. "Almost ready, Anna."

"Can I pretty please steer it?"

"No! I don't know if I can explain exactly how it works. Anyway, you sit on the passenger side," Elsa said, climbing in on the pilot side.

Anna climbed inside and stared at the dashboard with all sorts of dials and buttons, all ice, on it. "Elsa, how did you make this? It's so complicated!"

"Blueprints. Are you ready?"

"Yep! Hey, what's that hole for?" Anna asked, pointing to a hole right next to the steering controls.

"That lets me turn the whole machine on and off, which as you know, means freezing and unfreezing the water in the fuel tank. The hole is a tubular chamber leading to the fuel tank," Elsa explained. "Ready for takeoff?"

"Yeah!"

"Let's go then." Elsa put her hand over the hole, turning the fuel back into water, and the engine roared to life. Slowly but surely they rose into the air, rotor blades whirring. Elsa frowned in concentration as she steered their flying machine out over the fjord.

Anna was bouncing with excitement. They were really flying! In something her sister made! And they were on their way to Cedar Point, finally! "Elsa, this is so amazing! Look at the awesome view below us!"

"I'm trying to concentrate here…shush, Anna! I don't want us to crash," Elsa said.

They sat in silence for the next few minutes. Then… "WE'RE ALMOST THERE! I SEE THE PARK! I SEE RIDES!" Anna shrieked.

Elsa accidentally sent them plummeting straight down for a moment before regaining control of the ice helicopter. "Good grief, Anna, don't do that again!" She frowned before adding, "Where do you think we're supposed to land?"

"Maybe that big open space down there?" Anna pointed below them to the parking lot.

"That makes sense." Elsa landed the ice helicopter where Anna was pointing, and quickly turned off the engine by refreezing the water-fuel. "Well, here we are, finally!" She and Anna climbed out of their ice helicopter and headed toward the park gates. "I think we arrived too early. There's hardly anyone here," Elsa commented.

"Then that means we get the park all to ourselves! Can we get souvenirs when we leave?"

"I don't know. This is all new to me, too, you know. Where's your money-or gold bars, as the case may be?"

"Right here." Anna patted the pocket on her skirt. "I brought those two talking device things too, so we can find each other if we get separated in the park. And some sandwiches for lunch, but I left those in the ice-copter. Hey, let's officially call it that-ice-copter."

"That was a good idea. Come on, let's go buy our tickets. And ok, ice-copter it is."

* * *

><p>They walked over to the ticket booth, where there were only a few people in front of them. When it was their turn, Elsa said, "Two of the…single-day tickets, please."<p>

The cashier looked at her oddly for a moment before saying, "That'll be $127.18."

Elsa thought that sounded like a lot, but maybe money denominations were different in the United States. "Is this enough?" Elsa pulled out one of her gold bars and pushed it under the window.

"Sorry, but I can only accept legal currency," the cashier said.

"It's real gold," Anna jumped in.

"Come on, miss, is this a snow job? If that's real gold, it is worth far more than two tickets," the cashier said.

Elsa backed up a few steps. Had she accidentally made it snow or something? _Oh yeah, stupid me. It's just a figure of speech. Duh. _"Sorry," she apologized when she backed right into someone behind her. "I was just…"

"I know who you are! You're Queen Elsa of Arendelle," the someone said.

_Great. I've been here five minutes and someone already recognized me._ Elsa looked at the person who'd recognized her. It was a girl with brown pigtail braids who looked a few years younger than herself, wearing cargo shorts and a t-shirt. There was a slightly younger girl with shoulder-length brown hair with her.

"I take it you're having a little problem with getting tickets?" the girl asked.

"Evidently gold bars aren't worth anything here," Elsa said.

"Yes they are! You just can't buy stuff with them. Here, I'll straighten this out in a minute. I can get you discount tickets since I have a season pass." Before Elsa could say a word, the girl had gone up to the window (where Anna was insisting that gold bars ought to be perfectly fine to buy tickets with) and said, "We need three bring-a-friend tickets, please."

"You aren't with those other two girls, though." The cashier was confused.

"Well, my sister and I are with them for now. Three bring-a-friend tickets, please," the girl repeated. "Also my friend would like her gold bar back." She pushed a plastic card under the window, which Elsa assumed was the 'season pass', and came back a minute later, handing two tickets and the gold bar to Elsa. "There you go. Maybe I'll see you around the park later today. Make sure you ride Millennium Force!" The girl took off toward the entrance gate, pulling her sister behind her.

"What was that all about?" Anna asked.

"She got us tickets. I didn't even say thank you!" Elsa said, still a bit bewildered at the whole thing.

Anna giggled. "Well, she ran off so fast you couldn't have said anything anyway. Come on, let's go inside!"

* * *

><p>Elsa and Anna headed through the entrance gate and grabbed a park map. "Well, what do you want to do first?" Elsa asked.<p>

"That one!" Anna pointed overhead to the twisting blue track of GateKeeper.

"Don't you want to ride something smaller first?" _That's my fearless sister for you,_ Elsa thought.

"Nope. Let's do that one! Can I find it on the map?"

"Sure. Take us to GateKeeper," Elsa said, having found the name on the map.

Anna directed the two of them right past GateKeeper's queue entrance before they realized they'd walked right past it. "Oops. Maybe you can take over the map-reading, Elsa," Anna said as they walked through the switchbacks in the queue.

"That map is a little confusing. Everything is distorted-look at GateKeeper's track layout on the map and then look at the real thing," Elsa said. "This is great; look how short the line is!" she added as they reached the station.

"Let's ride here," Anna said, choosing the row in the middle of the train that actually had no one waiting for it.

"All right. Oh, Anna, put the map in your pocket. That sign says 'no loose articles'." Elsa pointed to the sign on the station wall. "I wonder if I should do something with the pouch with the gold bars in it," she said, fingering the little bag hanging around her neck.

"Put it inside your dress," Anna suggested as their train came into the station.

"_What?_"

"Good grief, Elsa, don't look so shocked at the idea. It's little; nobody will notice it. Plus we're going to be flying who knows how fast on a ride, so I really don't think anybody will be paying attention. Oh, you know what, just give it to me; I'll take care of it," Anna offered.

"Fine." Elsa handed the pouch to Anna, and they boarded the train.

"Can I have the outside seat?" Anna asked.

"You know you'll take it anyway," Elsa said.

"Maybe."

A few seconds later, the train began to move out of the station. "I'm so excited!" Anna said.

"Do you think this is safe?"

"Well, yeah, the park wouldn't run the ride if it wasn't," Anna pointed out.

"Good point. Too late now anyways!" Elsa swung her dangling legs as they approached the apex of the lift hill.

"Are we really going to go upside down?!" Anna yelped as she looked out at the layout of GateKeeper.

"You could see that part from the ground! I did ask if you wanted to ride something smaller first and you-okay, so we're inverting right this second…" Elsa said as the train began to twist into the wingover drop. For a split second, they were hanging upside down before flying down that drop. Elsa scrunched her eyes shut as she felt like her stomach was left back at the top. She was vaguely aware of Anna screaming beside her. _It's weird, but I'm not scared. I'm actually enjoying this!_ Elsa opened her eyes just as the train flew over a camelback hill, making her feel weightless for a couple seconds. _I'm flying!_ Realizing she was holding on to the shoulder harness for dear life, Elsa slowly let go with one hand, then the other. She stuck both hands straight up in the air. She was a bird! The train flew through the zero-g roll with its two keyhole points, where it looked as if she could touch the towers the train passed through. After flying through the rest of the layout, the ride ended, all too soon. The train came to a stop on the brake run. Elsa felt like she could float away on cloud nine.

"So, what did you think, Elsa? I didn't hear a peep out of you the whole ride!" Anna said.

"I think that was one of the best two and a half or so minutes of my life. I felt like a bird! The only thing I can think of that tops that was when you unfroze and you helped me figure out how to thaw everything." Elsa felt herself come back to earth and land with a thud. _I should not consider a silly thrill ride to be the second-best thing I've ever had happen in my life. That is so…lame…_

Anna watched as Elsa's delighted expression fell. "Um, Elsa, I have no idea what you're thinking about, but whatever it is, forget about it. We're supposed to be having fun today."

The train entered the station and it was time for them to get off. As Elsa and Anna headed down the exit, Elsa said, "Sorry, I was just thinking."

"Yeah, about something that made you upset. Promise me you won't think about _anything_ that happened in the past today."

"I'll try not to." _Seriously, Elsa? You need to think happy thoughts more, that's all. _Elsa changed the subject by asking, "So, what did you think of the ride? I could hear you screaming the whole time."

"It was kinda startling at first, especially when it tipped us upside down, but then I thought it was awesome! What do you want to ride next?"

"Wicked Twister," Elsa said, pointing to the yellow coaster whose entrance was right in sight.

"How do you know its name?"

"How about by looking at the entrance sign?"

"Oh yeah, duh."

* * *

><p>After riding Wicked Twister, Anna decided it was a more complicated version of Elsa's ramp launch thing up the castle staircase, and Elsa decided she did not care for being launched backwards unless she was the one controlling it. "Not doing that one again, Anna," Elsa said when Anna wanted to go again.<p>

"Why not?"

"Because I found out that I don't like getting launched backwards unless I'm the one making myself do it," Elsa explained.

"Chicken."

"I'm not scared of it-I just didn't like it! Besides, let's go do something else before reriding anything. The park is big, and we only have today to do everything we want to do," Elsa said.

"Ok. Let's do maXair, then," Anna replied as she headed over to the giant frisbee flat ride.

"How do you know its name?"

"How about by looking at the entrance sign?"

Elsa realized she'd just asked Anna the same silly question Anna had asked her before they rode Wicked Twister. "Oh, yeah, duh," she said in her best Anna impersonation. She and Anna cracked up laughing.

They watched the ride cycle while they waited in line. "Are you sure you want to ride this?" Anna teased.

"Yes, I'm sure. Unless your eyes got up and walked away, you can see that maXair does not launch backwards. Are you scared of getting dizzy?" Elsa teased back.

"No, Miss I'm–Scared-of-Backwards-Launches," Anna said. "Why would it make me dizzy anyway? It doesn't spin that fast."

When it was their turn and the ride began to swing back and forth, spinning slowly as it did so, Anna said, "I'll bet you I'm not dizzy when the ride's over!"

"You're on!" Elsa said. "And no fair closing your eyes!"

"Why would I do that?" Anna asked. She soon found out-as the ride's swinging motions increased in distance and intensity, continuing to spin all the while; it seemed as if the rest of the park was spinning instead of herself, which was indeed dizzying, but in a good way.

When they got off, Elsa said, "Now I _know_ you'll be lying if you say you're not dizzy, at least a little bit. That was really disorienting, but in a good way."

"All right, all right, you win. I'm dizzy, ok?" Anna proceeded to pretend she was so dizzy she couldn't walk in a straight line.

"Quit that, Anna!"

"Sor-ry."

* * *

><p>They rode Raptor. ("I like Raptor better than GateKeeper," said Anna. "I like GateKeeper better, but only because you can see where you're going even if you're not sitting up front," said Elsa.) And Blue Streak (they decided that it was quite a bit bumpier than the others they'd ridden, but that was completely fine because there was so much of the 'floaty' feeling during the ride).<p>

"What should we do next?" Anna asked.

"I'd like to ride Millennium Force. That's the one that girl said to make sure to ride before leaving the park," Elsa replied.

"Which roller coaster is that?"

"It's…the big blue one. Right there," Elsa said as she pointed to the towering blue structure. "Come on, let's go." Elsa consulted the map before heading towards Millennium Force.

Anna ran to catch up with Elsa, thinking that was funny-usually Elsa was the one trying to catch up with her.

Soon they reached Millennium Force's entrance. Anna gulped as she looked up at the track. She watched a train speed down the first drop, which looked nearly straight down. "Um, Elsa, are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes, why wouldn't I be?" Elsa paused and did a double take at Anna. "Don't tell me my fearless sister is scared of a ride. You're the one who told me earlier that the park wouldn't operate the rides if they weren't safe." Elsa giggled before adding, "Usually it's the other way around-I'm a huge chicken about something and you dive right in. Come on, Anna, I would really like you to ride it with me."

Anna was surprised at Elsa's unperturbed attitude. She did _not_ want to admit that Elsa was mostly right-she was just a LITTLE apprehensive about dropping that fast from that high. _Hmm, how can I get out of it?_ Anna thought. She caught sight of another towering structure that looked even taller than Millennium Force. "Ok, how about this? If you ride that by yourself" Anna pointed to Top Thrill Dragster, "then I'll ride Millennium Force with you." Anna was sure Elsa would say 'no way' to that.

Elsa turned to see what Anna was pointing at. She looked at the map to see which ride it was. "That's Top Thrill Dragster. You have a deal as long as it doesn't launch backwards. Just a second, I'm going to ask an employee if it does or not."

Anna was disappointed with Elsa's reaction, because she was fairly certain that ride did not launch backwards.

Elsa came back a moment later with the news that no, Dragster did not launch backwards. "It does, however, launch _forwards_ from 0-120 miles per hour and is 420 feet tall!" she announced.

"You don't want to do that, do you?" Anna asked hopefully.

"I don't see why not. I'm sticking with the logic you said in the first place-that the park would not operate the rides if they weren't safe." Elsa consulted the map once more to find the way to Dragster's entrance. "This way."

* * *

><p>Anna dragged her feet as she followed Elsa over to Top Thrill Dragster. "You can still change your mind, Elsa!" she said as they reached Dragster's entrance. "See, the line's pretty long!"<p>

"Stop trying to change my mind! I'm riding, and no backing out on your part-you're riding Millennium Force with me afterwards. You sit in the grandstand bleachers; I'll wave at you when it's my turn, okay?" Elsa watched where Anna sat down before entering the queue, which did indeed have an actual line of forty-five minutes. A little while later, she turned to see the girl from the ticket booth line that morning standing behind her. "Thank you for the tickets."

"You're welcome. There was a double discount today; the bring-a-friend tickets are cheaper anyhow, and then there was an extra sale today," the girl said. "Did you ride Millennium Force yet?"

"No, not yet. My sister and I were going to, but then she backed out on me. She said she'd ride it with me if I rode Top Thrill Dragster by myself," Elsa said. "Where's your sister?"

The girl laughed. "My sister? Ride Dragster? She's not a huge fan of roller coasters. Especially ones that go 120 miles per hour. To be fair, she _does_ like some of them, just not...most of them."

"Oh. Would…would you like to ride in the same row with me? I don't actually want to ride alone."

"Sure, but I'm riding in the front row. Is that ok with you?"

"Is there a reason it wouldn't be?" Elsa asked.

"No, but it's more intense because the wind is really loud whistling in your ears, you can feel the air blowing a lot more, and the view from the top is really amazing. If you're not scared of heights, that is. It's basically just all around very very cool."

Elsa considered this for a moment. She wasn't scared of heights, and she didn't see any reason why wind whistling would be scary. "Front row it is. Anna will be so surprised when she sees me!"

"Is Princess Anna sitting in the grandstand to watch you?"

"Don't call her 'princess' and don't call me 'queen'. Just 'Elsa' and 'Anna' is fine. So far you're the only one who has recognized us today, and I would like to keep it that way," Elsa whispered. In a normal voice, she added, "Yes, Anna's in the grandstand."

"Maybe she's talking to _my_ sister," the girl said.

* * *

><p>Out in the grandstand, Anna was indeed talking to the girl's sister. "Oh, hi, I know you! I saw you at the ticket booth this morning," Anna said. "Where's your sister?"<p>

"Waiting in line for silly old Top Thrill Dragster. You're Princess Anna, right?"

"Just plain Anna is good. _My_ sister is waiting in line for that, too. I said I'd go on Millennium Force with her if she rode this one by herself, but only because I thought she was going to say 'no way!' to that idea. Now I have to ride Millennium Force with her or else be a big fat welcher!"

"Maybe she'll decide not to ride at the last minute? I totally get not wanting to ride things-my sister is a crazy roller coaster fanatic, and I'm definitely not."

"I highly doubt that! When Elsa decides she's going to do something, she almost _always_ goes through with it. And boy did Elsa decide she was going to ride Top Thrill Dragster. I personally have enjoyed everything I've ridden today, but Millennium Force looks kinda, well, just plain big!" Anna said.

"That's because it's 315 feet tall. Stats courtesy of my goofy sister."

"Great, thanks for the info-not! Um, I'm not trying to be rude, by the way."

"Why would I think that was rude? I agree!"

* * *

><p>Back in Dragster's queue, it was almost Elsa's turn.<p>

"Only uh…four more trains, and then it's our turn," the girl said excitedly, counting the people in front of her and Elsa.

"That's nice," Elsa replied a bit nervously. After watching several trains launch, she was starting to lose her nerve, but she had no intentions of backing out now! Firstly because she really did want to ride; and secondly because she'd never hear the end of it from Anna.

"You know, even if you end up absolutely hating it, the ride only lasts about seventeen seconds," the girl said.

"Why would I hate it?"

"No reason. You just looked a little nervous."

"Oh. Aren't you nervous…just a little bit?" Elsa asked.

"No way! I'm just excited," the girl said. "Two more trains!"

_Seventeen seconds, seventeen seconds. I can handle anything for seventeen seconds. Besides, I'm going to love it anyway! _Elsa gave herself a private pep talk. _Get un-nervous, dumb self. You don't want to give yourself away to everyone by making it snow or something, do you? No. I'm excited…really!_

"One train!"

"Thrills," Elsa deadpanned.

"I agree!"

"That wasn't supposed to be taken literally!"

* * *

><p>A minute later, it was their turn to board a train. "Which seat do you want?" the girl asked.<p>

"Mmm…the one closer to the grandstand. I want to wave at Anna."

"Ok."

A few seconds later, the train slowly rolled out of the station to the launching area. "Can you see my sister?" Elsa asked.

"Yep! She's sitting next to my sister," the girl pointed to where her own sister and Anna were sitting.

"HI ELSA! I SEE YOU!" Elsa heard Anna yell. Anna was standing up in the grandstands, waving excitedly at her sister. Elsa gave Anna a small wave back before facing front again.

"_Arms down! Head back! Hold on!" _ Elsa heard a recording say. Then a revving engine sound, the 'Christmas tree lights' switched to green, and the train suddenly began tearing down the track rapidly picking up speed. Elsa felt as if she were glued to the back of the seat as the surrounding scenery zoomed by in a blur. The wind was so loud Elsa couldn't hear anything else. Suddenly Elsa found herself looking straight up at the sky, and a moment later the track abruptly twisted 90 degrees. Before Elsa had time to wonder what just happened, the train slowed down to a crawl…up…up…up…almost over the top…

"Oh, I forgot to say sometimes it can roll back! Then we get to relaunch!" the girl said.

"_What?!_"

"It's going to do it-it's going to do it!" The girl tossed her hands in the air.

The train began rolling backwards down the track, picking up almost all of its original speed. Elsa closed her eyes and waited for the train to stop going backwards. She liked the forwards launch, but going down the drop backwards not so much. It felt too much like getting launched backwards to her. _Falling…falling…falling into oblivion…but it's a rather nice oblivion… Wait, that doesn't make much sense…anyway… _Finally the train came to a stop and moved back into its original launching position. _Well, I guess that wasn't so bad,_ Elsa thought as she opened her eyes. _In fact, I wouldn't mind if it happened again._ Elsa looked over to see what Anna's reaction had been to watching the train roll back. She waved and smiled at Anna, who was staring in shock right at Elsa. The 'arms down, head back, hold on' recording played again, and the train relaunched. This time it made it over the top. Just as Elsa was thinking that the view from The Top of the World was amazing, the train tipped over the opposite side of the top hat and plummeted straight back down in a 270-degree twist. Down, down, down…then the track leveled out and the train slowed down as it hit the magnetic brakes. Elsa realized she was off on cloud nine again. "That was awesome!"

"So the seventeen seconds of ride was worth the forty-five odd minutes in line?" the girl asked.

"Definitely yes!"

The train came back into the station, and Elsa and the girl walked down the exit back out to the grandstand. "So, Millennium Force time, Anna?" Elsa asked, feeling as if she were almost levitating off the ground and Super Aware of EVERYTHING going on around her, even tiny things like the breeze ruffling her hair and her footsteps on the pavement.

"Oh no, Elsa's turned into a thrill ride mogul!" Anna teased. "What happened on Top Thrill Dragster? Was it supposed to roll backwards like that?"

"Yes and no. It's a normal occurrence, but it doesn't happen that often," the girl jumped in. "It happens when a train is launched but doesn't have enough speed to clear the top hat. Come on sis, let's go ride Maverick," she said, and took off in that direction. "Bye!"

"Good grief, and I thought you were bouncy," Elsa said to Anna. "I still don't even know her name!" She paused and then said, "Let's go back over to Millennium Force. I do believe you owe me a ride now."

"Boo. I was hoping you'd back out at the last second or something! But nooo…you went and rode Dragster in the front row, experienced a rollback, and decided you loved it! Not fair."

"Not fair? It was your idea for me to ride Dragster in the first place! And really, there is no time to actually think about what's going on during that ride. Your mind is always two seconds behind. When you're thinking about the amazing view at the top, you're already tipping over the other side." Elsa began to head back to Millennium Force, Anna following close behind.

* * *

><p>Soon they were heading into Millennium Force's queue. "The line's thirty minutes! I don't want to wait that long," Anna said. "Let's go do something else."<p>

"The ride will be worth the wait," Elsa said with certainty. "Dragster's line was longer than that and it was definitely worth the wait, even though the ride is over in a blink."

"Great," Anna said dully. "Just terrific. I have to wait half an hour for something I don't even want to do."

They waited in silence for a while. Elsa was tempted to make a snowball or something, just to have something to do, but she knew that would immediately give her away to everyone around her. She also realized that she didn't like being so close to so many strangers for so long. In Dragster's line, that girl's constant ongoing talk about the ride was a distraction, but here Anna was not saying anything and it felt like there were too many people. _You're being silly, Elsa. You are not going to hurt anyone by standing next to them,_ Elsa thought to herself. Elsa shifted her weight from one foot to the other, feeling antsy. How much longer was the line? She couldn't tell from here.

Anna noticed Elsa's fidgeting and thought maybe Elsa was nervous and didn't want to ride after all. "We don't have to ride if you don't want to," Anna offered eagerly.

Elsa turned back to Anna in surprise. "What makes you think I don't want to ride?"

"You're acting all nervous and jumpy," Anna said.

_Oh._ "Well, it's not the ride. There's too many people," Elsa explained. "I feel like they're too close." _Anna's going to think I have rocks in my head for being nervous about standing in line instead of the actual ride. Dumb me and my abnormal fears._ Elsa genuinely did not feel nervous about the actual ride in the least, but she did not like the standing in line part, and not because it was boring.

_That makes sense,_ Anna thought. _Elsa doesn't like crowds. _"We're just waiting in line," Anna said reasonably. "You are not going to hurt anyone. You don't even have to talk to anyone."

"I know. I know I'm being illogical. Just…I can't wait till it's our turn, and not just because I'm excited for the actual ride. Can we just talk until we get on the ride? It's a good distraction," Elsa said.

Anna frowned but just said, "Of course." _Elsa's nervous about being around a ton of people, and I'm nervous about the ride. Guess we're even now. Except for the fact that Elsa's fear is coming from the past. I think she needs a reassuring hug._ Anna gave her sister a quick hug and whispered, "See? Perfectly safe," in her ear. Then Anna said in a normal voice, "So, uh…where do you want to sit?"

Elsa gave Anna a grateful smile. _Thank you, Anna. I already knew I was just being stupid, but I still really appreciate the vote of confidence. _"I don't care. I liked the view from the front on Dragster, but the line for that row was quite a bit longer than all the others. You can pick."

Anna mulled it over. _Ok, the so-called 'best' view is definitely from the front. So it stands to reason that the 'worst' view would be from the back._ "Back row," she decided.

Elsa frowned. "Are you sure? I don't mind, but physics will tell you that the back row is going to feel more…um, intense, because of the weight of the rest of the train yanking it over the drops. Any forces the ride has will be magnified."

"How do you know? Are you a ride designer now? I don't want the so-called awesome view from the front," Anna said.

"It's just logic! Think about it-there's thousands of pounds of weight pulling the back end of the train through the layout. So if you sit in the back, you'll get a…let me see how to describe it…a whip effect," Elsa said. "But if you're sure, let's go for it!"

Anna made a face. She didn't want to change her mind now, since that would obviously mean that 1)she was kinda scared of the ride, and 2)she didn't remember a simple physics logistics thing. "I want to sit in the back," she said, her voice squeaking slightly at the end.

Elsa looked closely at Anna. _Anna's more scared than she's letting on,_ she realized. Elsa had plenty of past experience being scared, and it was an awful feeling. Suddenly Elsa felt bad for convincing Anna to ride with her. "Anna, you don't have to ride if you don't want to. You can just walk right through when we get to the station, I'll ride by myself, and I'll meet you at the exit afterwards."

"No, we made a deal. You rode Dragster alone, so I have to ride Millennium Force with you," Anna said.

"True, but I actually _liked_ riding Dragster," Elsa pointed out. "You only offered that because you thought I was going to say no to the whole idea. Really, it's fine."

"Nope, I want to go on Millennium Force with you. In the back row," Anna insisted.

"Well, all right…" Elsa knew it was pointless to debate this further. Once Anna had set her mind to something, she wasn't going to back out. _Plus, I bet Anna doesn't want to admit she's actually scared of something,_ Elsa thought.

* * *

><p>When it was finally their turn, Elsa said, "I have to admit-I'm excited!"<p>

And Anna said, "Wait, we don't get a shoulder harness thing?"

Elsa hadn't even particularly noticed. "Dragster just had lap bars, too. It didn't feel like you'd fall out or anything." She pulled her own lap bar down and waited for Anna to do the same.

"Are you positive?" Anna asked as she sat down.

"Yes! Besides, even if it did feel like you were falling out, you know that you won't, so it would be fine."

A few seconds later, the train moved out of the station and began going up the cable lift…very quickly. Elsa giggled with excitement and looked out at the view over Lake Erie. "Look Anna! Remember, you said you liked the view from a height! You like climbing on the roof at home, remember?"

Anna relaxed slightly and looked where Elsa was pointing. Elsa was right; Anna did like climbing on the roof at home. _And I'm not even strapped in when I do that, _she thought.

All at once, the train tipped over the apex of the lift hill and began its rapid descent. Elsa let out a rather undignified squeal and put her hands up as they flew down the drop. Anna yelped in surprise before deciding that this was actually fun. The train flew at what felt like an unimaginable speed through the 122-degree overbanked right turn…and Anna realized that Elsa's raised hands were leaving a plainly obvious trail of snowflakes behind them. Anna thought that was hilarious until she remembered Elsa would probably not find it so amusing when the ride was over. She was sure Elsa was not doing that on purpose, since Elsa had made such a big deal about not wanting to be recognized at the park. And there was nothing Anna could do about it-between the sound of the wind rushing by and all the screaming, Elsa wouldn't hear a word Anna said. Still, maybe she could try to tell Elsa… She shouted, "ELSA! SNOWFLAKE ALERT!"

Elsa was completely oblivious to the snowflake trail and Anna's shouting. She was flying high one moment, squashed in her seat the next, all the while moving at a great speed, never seeming to slow down; although she knew the train had to be moving slower as it progressed through the layout, losing energy due to friction. All too soon the train came to a stop, and Elsa put her hands down. Snowflakes floated down, and Elsa was startled. She immediately dissolved the snowflakes, then said, "Um, Anna…was I doing that for the whole ride?" Elsa looked behind her to see a trail of snowflakes following most of the ride's layout. "Oh my goodness. I definitely was! Why didn't you warn me, Anna?!"

"I did! I shouted at you during the ride, but you didn't hear me," Anna said. "Just get rid of them now. Maybe nobody else noticed."

Just then, the train moved into the station, and it was time to get off. "I'll get rid of them the second we're out the exit," Elsa whispered. She and Anna quickly walked down Millennium Force's exit and back out onto the main path, pretending not to hear people talking about where on earth snow could have come from when it was seventy-something degrees outside. Elsa made a discreet motion with her hand and all the snowflakes disappeared. "That was a close one. I think I got so excited I just completely forgot not to do that. It's a lucky thing we were sitting in the back row or everyone in the rows behind us would have instantly known I was the one doing it."

Anna was just happy Elsa wasn't criticizing herself for "losing control" out of excitement. "Well, it was really kind of funny. A snowflake trail flying behind the train must have looked even more funny from the ground."

Elsa wasn't paying attention to Anna. She was looking up at the sky. "Anna… tell me I don't see what I'm seeing up there," she said uneasily, pointing up at the sky.

Anna looked where Elsa was pointing. She gave a start before saying, "I see what looks like three people dressed in black, flying like Superman."

**A/N: Aaaannndd...cliffhanger!:)**

**Elsa and Anna must be at Cedar Point on an off-day for crowds. Because from what I've read, 30 minutes for Millennium Force and 45 minutes for Dragster are SHORT wait times.;) Lol**

**Elsa was worried about her hair giving her and Anna away at the park and they're wearing what they consider casual dresses. Yeah, mmhmm...I don't think Elsa's and Anna's idea of play clothes is very inconspicuous.**

**Next chapter coming soon!:)**


	24. Chapter 23-Day Eleven, Part 2

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who's followed/favorited and/or is reading but not reviewing!:)**

**bananas-rule-2015-I'm glad you liked the Cedar Point chapter. (I really enjoyed writing it...XD) I didn't want Elsa and Anna to get recognized by a ton of people because they were supposed to be having just a regular, fun day at the park without being 'Queen Elsa' and 'Princess Anna'.:P I guess we could just say nobody recognized them because they've never been outside Arendelle before? IDK...:P They SHOULD have gotten recognized more, I guess...after all, Elsa landed her ice-copter in the parking lot...XD P.S. You're welcome, I like replying to my reviews.:)**

**On to the story!:)**

Chapter 23-Day Eleven, Part 2

"That's what I was afraid of," Elsa replied. "We need to get back to Arendelle right now! Only people from planet Krypton can fly, and that was not Superman. Something tells me those people aren't friendly. We have to get home!"

"But we don't even know anything about them. Can't we stay longer here at the park? Please?"

"No. If something happens in Arendelle and I was here having fun, I don't know what I'd do. It's my job to protect Arendelle, no matter what. We're leaving. Now," Elsa said firmly. "We can always come back to Cedar Point another day. Come on, Anna." Elsa looked at the park map and began walking quickly to the park exit.

Anna huffed in annoyance but followed Elsa toward the exit.

"I'm leaving a warning at guest relations," Elsa said, making a beeline toward the guest relations area.

"But Elsa, we don't even know exactly who we saw. Whoever's running the guest relations area is going to think you're crazy!"

"I don't care if they do! They need a warning. If it's nothing, it's nothing, but I have a feeling it isn't." Elsa walked up to the window and said, "Excuse me, sir, but I thought you should know that there were three people dressed in black flying like Superman, and I don't think they were friendly." Elsa realized that this sounded completely ridiculous, even to her, and she _knew_ what she and Anna had seen. _That was the best explanation you could come up with, Elsa? La-ame. Stupid, too._

"Aren't you the same girl who was trying to buy tickets with a gold bar this morning?"

Elsa realized it was the same cashier from the ticket booth that morning, and now he was looking at her like she was crazy. "I'm sorry, I was stupid! Please, you have to believe me. Just please tell whoever your boss is. They have to know!"

"My sister's right-we did see three people dressed in black flying like Superman," Anna added. Anna still thought Elsa was making a big deal over nothing, but they _had_ both seen the same thing, and Anna wanted to back up her sister.

"All right, all right, I'll tell my supervisor."

"Oh thank you! We had a wonderful time at the park today, by the way." Elsa said, and headed out to the parking lot with Anna. She easily spotted the ice-copter in the sea of cars. "Come on, Anna, let's get home as fast as possible!"

They jumped into the ice-copter; Elsa unfroze the water-fuel and the engine roared to life; and the machine rose into the air. Anna pulled their sandwiches out and began eating one hungrily. "Want yours, Elsa? I know it's way after lunchtime. I wasn't hungry in the park since we were so busy the whole time."

"Sure, thank you." Elsa took one hand off the controls and took the sandwich Anna handed her. "What's in this anyway? It tastes like chocolate!" The ice-copter tilted dangerously to one side. "Take it back, Anna!" Elsa shrieked. "I need both hands to control this thing!"

Anna quickly took the sandwich, and Elsa righted the ice-copter, giving a sigh of relief. "I'll eat it when we get home, okay, Anna?"

"Chocolate," was all Anna said in reply.

"You mean that really is chocolate filling?" Elsa laughed. "Chocolate sandwiches!"

"Yeah, I made them. They're yummy," Anna said. "Elsa…do you really think those people we saw were bad?"

"I don't know for sure, but I'm about ninety-nine percent sure. Somehow, three people in black flying like Superman is more than a little suspicious. If it turns out I'm wrong, I guess I'll be eating my words, but…" Elsa shook her head. "I'm the absolute last person on the planet who should be judging people by their abilities…I don't know what, but _something_ is odd."

* * *

><p>A few minutes later, Elsa landed the ice-copter in the castle courtyard and ran inside with Anna. Gerda met her in the hall. "I don't know why you're back so early, Miss Elsa, but you have a visitor," Gerda told her.<p>

"A visitor?! Who is it?" Elsa's voice sounded agitated.

"It's just Superman," Gerda was puzzled at Elsa's reaction. "He brought the newspaper that has your interview in it, and said he has an important message for you. He's waiting for you in the Great Hall. I told him you wouldn't be back until late, but he said he'd wait."

"Tell him I'll be there in fifteen minutes," Elsa said. "I'll be right back." She rushed toward the staircase.

Anna ran right after her. "Elsa, eat your sandwich before the meeting!"

"Thank you, Anna." Elsa took the sandwich and had gobbled it up before she'd reached the door to her room. "Anna, go change your dress and you can come to the meeting too." Elsa went inside her room and shut the door behind her, leaving a bewildered Anna in the hall. Anna couldn't understand why Elsa was so flustered. She shrugged and headed to her own room to change.

Elsa quickly took off the dress she'd worn to the park, kicked off her shoes, and put on her 'Anna ice dress'. Then she couldn't find her ice high heels (which were actually just sitting on a shelf in the closet). "Where are they?!" she said out loud. _Oh well, I'll just make new ones._ In a flash, a pair of icy flat sandals appeared on Elsa's feet. Elsa took out her windblown braid and speedily redid it. "Okay, I'm ready." She headed back out into the hall and ran to Anna's room. "Are you ready, Anna?" she called.

"Yep!" Anna ran out into the hall smack dab into Elsa.

"Ow!" they said at the same time. Then, "Sorry!"

Anna giggled. "Good grief, Elsa, you're acting really weird. Like me!" she said as they quickly walked down the hall and downstairs.

"I should hope you aren't acting like I am right this second!" Elsa said. "Something is really goofy here…first we saw those people at Cedar Point, and now Superman's here with an important message."

"You think there's a connection?"

"Yes I do!" Elsa took a deep breath to calm herself down before entering the Great Hall. "It's nice to see you again, Superman," she said.

"Likewise," Superman replied. "I've brought the promised copy of the Daily Planet newspaper with the interview in it." He handed the newspaper to Elsa, who handed it to Anna.

"Thank you. And the important message?" Elsa asked. She walked over to the throne dais but didn't sit down. This was not a particularly formal meeting in Elsa's mind, even if they were in the Great Hall.

"Queen Elsa, you might want to sit down for this…"

"I am not a damsel in distress who swoons at the slightest provocation." _Seriously? I know I still have fear remnants from the past, but I'm not a sissy who faints at bad news. _Elsa was a bit miffed at that, even though she knew Superman didn't mean anything by it. "Please tell me the message."

"Well, I unwittingly released three Kryptonian criminals from the Phantom Zone. They are running loose on Earth now…they've ransacked a city in Texas."

"What's the Phantom Zone?" Anna piped up. "Hey Elsa, I'll bet those three criminals are who we saw flying over Cedar Point earlier today."

"You don't say," Elsa said to Anna. "I told you they were bad news!" To Superman she said, "Thank you for this information. What can be done about this? These people each have the same powers you do, correct?"

"Sadly, yes. I came to tell you personally about this because I thought Arendelle could be saved from destruction easily. I remember you made that ice bubble on Hans's boat…Even I couldn't shatter it. If you made something like that around Arendelle's entirety, this threat wouldn't be a threat here at all," Superman said.

"Around Arendelle's entirety?" Elsa frowned. It was a good idea, but she wasn't sure if she could make something that large safely. "Even if I could do that, what about the rest of the world? I'm supposed to just sit here in my little ice-contained paradise while the rest of the planet is destroyed?"

"Elsa, you can make our little so-called 'ice-contained paradise', no problem! You froze the whole place without even knowing it before and you easily made all those ice defenses against the Southern Isles and Weselton," Anna said. "In fact, I bet you could help Superman get rid of these criminal people, too!"

"Anna, please don't remind me about that." Elsa sent a meaningful glance at Anna, hoping she got the message. _Anna does have a point though. I did freeze the kingdom without even knowing it and I did make successful ice defenses. And if I simply enclose Arendelle within a colossal ice bubble, the temperature will still remain normal…I have to at least try. Also, I probably _can_ help Superman defeat those criminals. There are three of them and only one of him, after all. And they definitely will not be expecting to take on ice powers; they won't know what I can and cannot do. Even if I'm not a formidable opponent for them, I'll be a deterrent. If I get in a fight over my head, I'll just do the ice bubble thing again._ Elsa made her decision. "Thank you for the suggestion, Superman. I believe I shall take it. Also, my sister has an excellent idea-I can help you defeat those criminals. They will be expecting your powers; they will not be expecting mine."

"Forgive me for saying so, Queen Elsa, but you have not seen all the abilities Kryptonians have here on Earth. You only have seen supersenses and the ability to fly. And believe me, these criminals will not fight fair. They will do anything. They are power-hungry individuals trying to take over the planet," Superman said.

"Yes, but you have the same powers they do. A quick practice session, and I think I'll be ready. And since when do enemies fight fair?" Elsa said, remembering her experiences with Hans, the duke, and Boris. "Superman, I may be a girl, but I'm no sissy. I can help with this. You _know_ I can. Your original message was to tell me I can save Arendelle. Should I not attempt to assist in putting an end to this threat for everyone else outside my kingdom?"

Superman knew Elsa had a point-there _were_ three superpowered criminals to deal with, and there was only one of him. But Elsa didn't know them like he did; she didn't understand how dangerous they really were. "Queen Elsa, if you fight them, they won't be satisfied until they kill you," he said, trying to go for a shock factor. "Perchance your ankle isn't completely better yet?" he added, hoping to change Elsa's mind.

"People wanting to kill me won't be anything new for me," Elsa said flatly. _At all. _"And my ankle is a hundred percent fine; I've been walking all over Cedar Point since early this morning. I don't limp anymore either, according to my sister." Elsa sent a silly grin at Anna. Elsa turned a serious face back to Superman. "Please let me help. A practice fighting session in the courtyard, maybe? After that, I will turn Arendelle into our little 'ice-contained paradise'."

"All right," Superman agreed.

"Can I watch?" Anna asked excitedly. A pretend battle involving superpowers sounded more than a little interesting to her.

"Yes, but stay off to the side," Elsa said. "I don't want you getting hurt."

* * *

><p>A few minutes later, Elsa and Superman stood opposite each other in the castle courtyard, while Anna stayed right in front of the main entrance doors, off to the side, as agreed.<p>

"So, I'm thinking, I should play up the differences between our abilities," Elsa said. "Is there anything you can do that is similar or the same to something I can do?"

Superman thought for a moment before freezing one of the courtyard fountains by blowing on it. "That's the only cold-related power I have. I also have superbreath, which is basically a strong wind."

"Is it strong enough to blow me backwards?" Elsa asked.

"Queen Elsa, it can blow thousands of pounds backwards…"

"Please drop the 'queen' title; we're coworkers at the moment. Thousands of pounds…okay, I have an idea. Do the superbreath thing right at me," Elsa said as she covered her side of the courtyard with a layer of soft powdery snow. "If it doesn't work, I'll land in the snow and be perfectly fine."

Superman did as Elsa asked, and was surprised when a strong cold blast of air came from Elsa right at him. The two air currents met in the middle of the courtyard, neither Elsa's blast nor Superman's superbreath giving any ground. "All right, I'm stopping my blast in five seconds!" she shouted. "5…4…3…2…1…now!" Simultaneously the air currents stopped, and both Superman and Elsa stumbled forward a few steps at the sudden disappearance of resistance.

"All right, that seemed to be an even match," Superman said. He was surprised before thinking, _I should have known; she moved the helicopter a long ways across the fjord by doing that when we were here for the interview._ "What else do you want to see?"

"Anything, anything you can do that I don't know about yet," Elsa answered.

"Can you put out fires with your powers?"

"Yes, why?" Elsa was puzzled. _Superman can make fires?!_ "Anna, will you please fetch a little kerosene from inside? That's easily flammable."

Anna got a small container of kerosene and handed it to Elsa, who set it in the middle of the courtyard and then backed away onto her side of the courtyard. "Okay, fire away, Superman. I'm ready." Elsa put her hands up, ready to quench the kerosene as soon as it ignited. Superman used his heat vision to send beams of heat onto the kerosene, instantly setting it on fire. Elsa put the flames out a second later. _All right, how would criminals use that to fight? They would probably try to hit their opponent with it. And I'm susceptible to heat, so…_

Superman broke into Elsa's thoughts by asking, "I know you're immune to cold; does that make you immune to heat as well?"

"No. I get hot very easily unless I'm purposely trying to cool myself off," Elsa said. "But my ice can be impermeable, even to fire. Let's test it." Elsa made a small wall of ice in front of her. "Send those heat beams onto this," she said, gesturing at the ice wall.

Superman did so, and instead of the heat beams melting the ice, they bounced off back towards him. He ducked, knowing if he were hit with his own heat beams, they would knock him over. Elsa saw where the heat beams were headed-right at the castle wall. Not a moment too soon, the wall was covered in ice. The beams of heat ricocheted back towards Elsa's ice wall, then back to the iced-over castle wall. Back and forth, back and forth. Anna stared in amazement. "Uh, that's super cool…or hot, as the case may be, but how are you going to get rid of it?!"

"I think I can…" Elsa erected an ice wall of purposely-meltable ice between the impenetrable ice wall and the iced-over castle wall. As Elsa hoped, the "normal" ice wall absorbed the heat beams and melted into a large puddle of water. She froze the water, then dissolved the whole thing. Then she dissolved the rest of the ice and snow in the courtyard. "All right, so now we know my ice will stand up to Kryptonian heat beams, but it could also cause extra danger to bystanders if it started causing that ricochet reaction again."

"Hey, Elsa…Superman can fly and you can't, at least I highly doubt it," Anna giggled. "How are you going to defend against a flying attack?"

Elsa thought for a moment, then said, "Superman, will you fly overhead, then try to drop down on me? I want to see if I can do something."

"Queen-"

"Just Elsa," Elsa interrupted.

"All right, then…Elsa, are you sure you want to try that? I could hurt you if you don't do whatever you're going to do fast enough to get out of the way."

"You won't. It'll be fine."

"Well, here I come!" Superman flew overhead.

Elsa waited until Superman was directly over her head and dropping right toward her. Then she let a sheet of ice form under her feet and launched herself sideways with a cold blast of air, standing surfer-style. But she wasn't quite quick enough; Superman caught her foot as he landed and Elsa took a spill on the ice. She jumped up, unhurt.

Superman frowned. "That's why I didn't want to do that."

"I'm fine! It would have worked; I just need to move faster. Let's try again." Elsa dissolved her sheet of ice and moved back to her original spot.

This time Elsa moved quicker, and Superman only caught air when he landed. "You know, you probably can make yourself 'float' in the air, even if you can't actually fly. Could you try aiming one of your cold air blasts directly below you?"

"I guess so?" Elsa aimed a cold blast of air straight below her and yelped in surprise when she went soaring several feet in the air. She experimented with the strength of the air current suspending her in midair. Elsa shot up another several feet, and then plummeted down until she was floating about a foot off the ground. "Is this what you meant? I never knew I could do that before!" _That was actually…fun. _She ended the air current and landed nimbly back on the ground.

"Wow, Elsa, that was awesome!" Anna exclaimed. "You should do that more often!"

Elsa smiled. _I wonder what else I can do that I didn't know about. _"Do you have any other ideas or suggestions, Superman?"

"Yes. One is to stay a distance from those criminals, Qu-I mean Elsa. You can fight from a distance; use that to your advantage. Don't let them get within an arm's length of you. They'll try to use simple strength against you once they realize you're a fairly even match power-wise, sans superstrength," Superman said. "Well, I don't _think_ you have superstrength, do you?"

"No, I don't think so. Anna could probably beat me easily at arm wrestling or something," Elsa replied.

"Can we have an arm wrestling contest?" Anna asked. "That'd be fun! And Elsa, you forgot one thing you can do-you can pick up objects easily if they're sitting on your ice. You picked me and that ice sled up without even touching it that one time, remember?"

"Oh, yes. Anna's right, I can do that," Elsa said. "And I suppose we can have an arm wrestling contest sometime…"

"Like now!" Anna ran over to Elsa and began pulling her towards the castle doors.

"No, not now!" Elsa said. "I'm trying to practice and figure things out here."

"I wouldn't mind seeing your contest," Superman jumped in.

"Well, all right. It'll probably last about ten seconds anyhow," Elsa said. "Let's do it in the parlor across that small table. That should work."

* * *

><p>The three of them headed to the parlor. Elsa and Anna sat across from each other, elbows on the table and hands clasped. "Now no ice powers, Elsa. That's not fair," Anna teased.<p>

"All right, all right, all right. Ready, Anna?"

Anna nodded.

"Ready…set…go!"

After Anna realized they were probably about even strength-wise, she made a quick movement with her wrist that sent Elsa on the defensive.

"Anna, stop it! You're twisting it funny!" Elsa said.

"Afraid of losing?" Anna teased.

"No, you're hurting me! All right, I forfeit, Anna wins," Elsa replied, jerking her arm off the table. "Is losing at this game supposed to hurt? I've never done it before…"

"Your sister was just bending your arm at a way it's not supposed to go," Superman told her. "That's why it hurt. You're supposed to win by getting your opponent's arm flat on the table, yes, but not by bending it sideways like that."

"Well, I don't think I'll do that again," Elsa said, rubbing her elbow. "You'll have to do it with someone else if you want to do that, Anna."

"I'm really sorry, Elsa-I didn't mean to hurt you!" Anna said. "I did that when I played this game with Kristoff, and while he still beat me, it made the game last quite a bit longer…I didn't know…"

"Anna, stop it! I'm perfectly fine; you probably would have beat me anyway," Elsa told Anna. "Come on, I'm going to turn Arendelle into our little 'ice-contained paradise' now."

Five minutes later, Arendelle was encapsulated by Elsa's colossal kingdom-sized ice bubble. Outside, everything had a slight bluish twinkle.

**A/N: Elsa's got Arendelle perfectly safe, but she still needs to help get rid of the Kryptonian criminals...*plays suspense music* (Ok, I'll shut up now.;))**

**Next chapter coming soon!:)**

**P.S. To anyone who's reading my other story, 'Secret Passages', the next chapter will be up soon.:) I like to have a little bit written past the chapter before posting so I don't "fall behind" and then have to wait forever before updating.:P**


	25. Chapter 24-Day Eleven, Part 3

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who's followed/favorited and/or is reading but not reviewing!:)**

**bananas-rule-2015-Cool! Obviously the plot of Superman II isn't playing out the same as the movie, but yep, same Kryptonian villains.;) I'm glad you like 'Secret Passages'; I did post the new chapter of it yesterday.:) **

**On to the story!:) This is just a short chapter to link everyone together and start setting up the 'action sequence'.:) (Assume the Kryptonian villains already overtook the White House...obviously Elsa and Anna don't know that because they don't have a TV.:P) **

Chapter 24-Day Eleven, Part 3

Meanwhile, about 500 miles away in Washington, D.C., four devious minds conspired together, three Kryptonian criminals and the 'greatest criminal mind of our time', Lex Luthor.

"Metropolis," Luthor said.

"What is this Metropolis?" Zod demanded.

"You ask for Superman, the son of Jor-El, do you not?"

Zod narrowed his eyes at Luthor.

"All right, all right, I get the message. We must go to Metropolis, to the Daily Planet to find him," Luthor spit out quickly.

"I thought we were going to ransack that park we saw earlier today," Ursa said.

Non grunted his agreement.

"Who cares about a nondescript amusement park?!" Zod shouted, punctuating his words with a punch to a table that broke it in half. "I want the world!"

"General, the snow, remember? It is far too warm for snow," Ursa replied.

"Snow is not a threat to us! So what if there was snow?"

_Snow? Queen Elsa of Arendelle!_ Luthor thought. "So, sorry to jump in, but where was this 'nondescript amusement park'?"

"On the border of a large lake. Tall red roller coaster, tall blue coaster…many others as well," Ursa informed him.

"Cedar Point, then," Luthor replied. _Definitely Queen Elsa. That park is directly across Lake Erie from Arendelle. Although I wonder what she was doing at the park…_

"Stop this mindless chatter. It is time to go to Metropolis," Zod said. "I don't care about snow at an amusement park."

"What if I told you someone made the snow with her bare hands and that that someone knew Superman as well?" Luthor asked with glee. He didn't like Elsa one bit after she had refused to help him get rid of Superman.

"You just did," Zod said. "You say this someone knows Superman? And she makes snow?"

"Precisely. She can make ice as well. But we should go to Metropolis first," Luthor said. "There's someone at the Daily Planet you need as well."

"Done. Show us to Metropolis."

* * *

><p>Back in Arendelle, just as it was getting dark outside, Elsa was trying to convince Anna that she shouldn't come along to battle the Kryptonian criminals. "Anna, these people are bad people. With the same powers and abilities of Superman. You can't come! It's dangerous!"<p>

"You're going," Anna pouted. "I want to help too!"

"Princess Anna, your sister has powers that are a fairly even match for Kryptonian powers. You don't. Please trust me when I say that regular humans don't stand a chance against these people," Superman told Anna.

"Wait. My sister can come, under the strict condition that she stays in the ice-copter the whole time. Anna will be safe because the criminals will not be able to break into it. But Anna, it's _imperative_ that you stay in the ice-copter, no matter what you may see or hear," Elsa said. "_No matter what._ That includes me getting stuck in the park; do you understand?"

"Mmm...ok," Anna replied. _But if Elsa really does get stuck in the park, I'm following her._

"Good. Now that's settled, where are these criminals now? I saw them flying over Cedar Point earlier today; do you think they would return to tear the place up?" Elsa asked Superman.

"Did they do anything while you were there?" Superman asked. "If they didn't they are likely to return sooner or later."

"They were just flying overhead. Anna and I left when we saw them."

"More like Elsa yanked me out of the park like we were getting chased by wolves," Anna complained. "She wouldn't let us ride anything else because she said we had to get home ASAP."

"And I'm sure glad I did! Three superpowered criminals on the loose…ay yi yi!" Elsa said.

Superman finally said, "How about this for a battle plan: You and Anna go in the ice-copter to Cedar Point's parking lot, and just sit and wait. The criminals will likely come back shortly, but not during the night because they love destruction, and pillaging an empty park wouldn't be very 'fun' to them. So you'll be able to sleep safely in the ice-copter all night. If I'm thinking correctly, they will come back to Cedar Point in the morning, and then we will let them have it."

Elsa frowned. "And just what are you going to be doing while we are _sleeping_ in the ice-copter? Looking for the criminals alone because you don't think I'm qualified to help or something?"

"Well…" _Elsa's partly right. I don't want her or Anna getting hurt._ Superman said, "I'll keep watch outside the ice-copter."

"It's impossible for anyone to break into my ice-copter anyway," Elsa countered.

"Elsa, let him keep watch if he wants to. It's no big deal," Anna said.

_I guess Anna's right._ "All right. Plan is a go in my mind, then," Elsa said. "Just one question: what if they don't show up in the morning? Then we'll have wasted a lot of time and accomplished nothing."

"If they don't show up, we come up with a new plan," Anna said. "Right, Superman?"

"Right."

* * *

><p>In Metropolis, mayhem ensued after Zod, Ursa, Non, and Luthor broke into the Daily Planet building. "You said Superman was here!" Zod accused Luthor.<p>

"I've given you the next best thing. You just hang on to that little lady" Luthor pointed at Lois Lane, "and he'll be right along."

* * *

><p>By 11PM that night, Elsa, Anna, and Superman were in Cedar Point's parking lot. Anna was asleep in the ice-copter; Elsa was sleepy but still awake thinking about what could happen the next day; and Superman paced about outside the ice-copter keeping watch. Elsa was still slightly irked at the whole 'keeping watch' thing, but she figured as long as Superman insisted on doing that, then she might as well go to sleep. Soon she was fast asleep like Anna already was.<p>

**A/N: And that wraps it up for now.:) The 'exciting' stuff will start in the next chapter.:)**

**Next chapter coming soon!:)**


	26. Chapter 25-Day Twelve, Part 1

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who's followed/favorited and/or is reading but not reviewing!:)**

**bananas-rule-2015-I'm glad you're enjoying the story!:) Hopefully this update was soon enough;)**

**On to the story!:)**

Chapter 25-Day Twelve, Part 1

Elsa awoke to the sound of Superman knocking on the ice-copter's pilot side door. _It's morning. And I see those criminals flying right overhead._ The morning light shone on a parking lot quickly beginning to fill up with cars. Elsa shook Anna's shoulder. "Anna, wake up!"

"Don' wanna…lemme sleep…"

Elsa dropped a snowball on Anna.

"Hey! What was that for?!" Anna said, brushing the snow off.

Elsa replied, "You wouldn't wake up. Anyway, it's morning, and the you-know-whos are here, just as we all suspected. STAY. IN. THE. ICE-COPTER. Do you understand?"

"Aw, do I have to?"

"Yes! You only got to come under the condition that you would stay here!" Elsa briefly thought about icing the ice-copter doors shut, but quickly decided against it. She couldn't stand the thought of purposely locking Anna inside anywhere. "Just lock the doors and you will be a hundred percent safe." _I hate locked doors so much…_

"Hmph. Well, all right, go kick those criminals' dumb butts and come right back!"

Elsa stifled a giggle at Anna's name calling of the criminals. "Anna, don't call people 'dumb butts'!"

"Oh, come on, it was funny! See, you're trying not to laugh!"

Elsa just gave Anna a hug. "I'll see you later. Hopefully very soon!" She opened the door and climbed out of the ice-copter. "Bye, Anna. Lock the doors, please!" _I really don't like locked doors…_

Anna gave her a thumbs up from inside and mouthed, 'All locked!'

Elsa smiled and waved before turning to Superman. "I'm ready."

"Then let's go. They've already landed in the park judging from the noise," Superman said, gesturing towards the park, from which horrible sounds were coming. Screams-not the delighted kind; and crashing noises. "If you hold my hand, we can just fly in and land that way."

Elsa didn't care for that idea, but she agreed since dropping in from overhead was probably the best way to go into the park, since they would immediately know where the Kryptonian criminals were. "Fine." She inwardly cringed as a particularly loud crash sounded from within the park. _Come on, Elsa, you can do this. You volunteered for this. What was it that Anna said a few days ago? Oh, I remember now…'Conceal, don't feel' is only useful if you're dealing with some rotten creep. If I ever needed that, it's now. Thanks, Anna._ Elsa made a mental note to thank Anna for that idea later. "Let's go. I'm ready."

Superman and Elsa took off into the air and flew over the park, scanning it for the Kryptonians. "There they are." Superman pointed them out on the midway. "They have Lois Lane with them!"

"Ready to land when you are," Elsa said.

They descended straight down, landing lightly on the midway.

* * *

><p>"Zod." Superman crossed his arms and addressed Zod by name with authority.<p>

Zod turned to see Superman and…a girl dressed in a sparkling blue gown. _That's the snow-making girl Luthor was talking about?! She doesn't look like much of a threat._ "Who's your little assistant, son of Jor-El?" he said, gesturing at Elsa.

Elsa stepped forward a couple steps, wary of anything Zod (or the other two) might do. "I am Queen Elsa of Arendelle. Why are you doing this? I'm sure we could all live peacefully together," she said, gesturing at an overturned kiosk and all the frightened people.

Superman privately did a facepalm. _Elsa, you're wasting your time. You can't reason with these people._

"Kneel before Zod!" Zod bellowed.

"No." Elsa's single word was spoken quietly but firmly.

Ursa stepped directly next to Zod. "Do you even know what we are capable of, missy?" She set a nearby souvenir shop's roof on fire.

Elsa extinguished the fire with an ice blast. "As a matter of fact, I do. You three have the same powers and abilities of Superman."

"If you think ice and snow will overpower us, you're sadly mistaken," Ursa retorted.

"Maybe, maybe not," Elsa replied. Elsa's voice remained calm and even. She quickly scanned the scene. There was Lex Luthor and Lois Lane. _Luthor must be working with Zod and Ursa and whatever the other one's name is. They're holding Ms. Lane as a hostage because they must know Superman likes her somehow._

"Go back to Metropolis," Zod told Ursa and Non. Zod was hoping that Superman would follow them, leaving Elsa to fight Zod alone.

Ursa and Non took off.

Elsa gave a slight nod at Superman, telling him it was fine to go. "I can handle this. You get the other two."

Superman weighed the options. If he left, he was leaving Elsa with the worst of the three Kryptonians, but it was a one-on-one fight that Elsa could at least hold her own in. If he stayed, he and Elsa would defeat Zod, but at the expense of the entire city of Metropolis. Superman took off after Ursa and Non, hoping he was doing the right thing.

Elsa turned back to Zod and waited for him to make the first move. _Defenses up, Elsa. You're ready to fight this time. You're in control._ "I just have to keep it that way," she muttered under her breath. _Conceal, don't feel. But only because it's useful in this situation, like Anna told me. These are 'rotten creeps' if I've ever seen any._

* * *

><p>Out in the ice-copter, Anna watched as two Kryptonians flew overhead, quickly followed by Superman. <em>Elsa's in the park alone with the third one! I have to see if she's ok!<em> She debated on going inside, but she remembered Elsa's instructions to stay in the ice-copter no matter what. Anna decided to wait a few minutes, and if Elsa didn't come out, she was going into the park anyway.

* * *

><p>"Aw, Superman made the wrong choice leaving you here," Zod taunted. "I can't believe he was so naïve as to leave a little girl who happens to be able to make ice and snow here to fight General Zod!"<p>

"I'm not a little girl," Elsa retorted. "Superman left me here because he knows I can handle you."_ I can do this. I'm the Snow Queen._

Zod responded by pointing a finger at Elsa, lifting her several feet in the air with a levitation beam.

Elsa panicked for a moment before remembering she could easily lower herself to the ground if he "dropped" her. _Superman didn't tell me he could do this, though…I wonder what else he didn't tell me…_ Elsa sent a cold blast of air below her and waited for Zod to "drop" her.

Zod took his levitation beam away, thinking Elsa would just fall to the ground.

Elsa lowered herself back to the ground and said, "Nice try, Zod. I'll not be frightened by you."

_What the…THAT WASN'T ICE OR SNOW!_ "You said she controls ice and snow!" Zod yelled at Luthor.

"She does! I don't know what she just did! What did you just do, Queen Elsa?" Luthor said.

"Like I'd tell you," Elsa replied. "A smart fighter doesn't reveal her secrets." Elsa spoke to Luthor but kept her eyes fixed on Zod. _Elicit calm, Elsa. You've got this._

Zod flew a little up in the air and tried to drop down on Elsa from above. Elsa sent herself sliding across a sheet of ice just in time. She left the ice on the midway, and Zod slipped on it as he landed. "You little rat!" he hissed at Elsa.

"Look who's calling who names," Elsa said, backing away a little farther. _Keep a distance between you and him,_ she told herself.

Zod turned his back on Elsa and started to walk away, then whipped around a second later and sent his superbreath directly at Elsa, making everything in the vicinity go flying as well.

Elsa wasn't quite ready and she went flying backwards through the air. _Snow to land on._ She landed flat on her back on a pile of snow. Elsa sat up and shook the snow out of her hair. _I have to be quicker next time. _Something smacked her in the face. _What on earth was that?!_ She shook her head to clear the ringing and sent her own blast of cold air back in Zod's direction. As soon as she felt her air current pushing back against Zod's superbreath, she got to her feet and began making the air current stronger. Elsa felt the resistance lessen and then cease altogether; then she ended her own blast of air.

Zod was furious. That blast of air Elsa had made was equal to his own superbreath, if not slightly stronger. He decided to rethink his strategy. Obviously Elsa cared about the people or she wouldn't have been all 'we can live peacefully together', so Zod decided to turn his energies on the rest of the park and its guests rather than Elsa herself. He decided to use his heat vision to incinerate the place. Elsa couldn't smother fires but so quickly.

Heat beams shot towards a wooden kiosk a little way down the midway. An impenetrable ice wall formed in front of the kiosk a moment before the heat beams reached it. Ping! The heat beams hit the ice wall and bounced off…directly onto a second ice wall, this one meltable. Only a large puddle was left from the heat beams and Elsa's meltable ice wall.

Realizing that Zod planned to set fire to the rest of the kiosks and game stalls, Elsa quickly made an impenetrable ice wall that extended in front of the game stalls lining the midway as she ran down the midway. She almost tripped, and then thought, _I should have worn something else instead of listening to Anna!_ Long ice dresses and capes were not particularly helpful for running. At least she'd worn her ice sandals instead of high heels. _Now what should I do?_ Elsa turned from her ice wall(s) lining the midway to see Zod flying into the air. He landed on top of Power Tower. _Oh no, he can reach the whole park from up there!_ she thought in alarm. _I have to get him down from there._ Elsa squinted as she tried to judge the angle from where she was standing to the top of Power Tower. _All right, I think I've got it._ She sent a ramp of ice angled from the ground to the top of Power Tower. Then she launched herself up the ramp, standing surfer-style, one hand sending her up the ramp and the other held out for balance. Elsa carefully stepped onto the top of Power Tower, just a bit out of arm reach of Zod.

"What are you doing up here?" Zod demanded. He made a quick motion and shoved Elsa off.

Elsa screamed but was able to catch herself partway down with a blast of air that sent her back up to the top of Power Tower. _How do I get back onto Power Tower? Maybe if I try something here…_ She kept one hand on the air current holding her up and used the other to make another blast of air that moved her sideways back onto the top of Power Tower. Elsa grinned. _So I guess I can sort of fly, even if it's rather clumsy. Lucky thing I'm not scared of heights._ "Hello again."

"You're a stubborn girl, aren't you," Zod said.

"You mean because you didn't kill me yet," Elsa deadpanned.

"ARGH!" Zod narrowed his eyes and sent heat beams at Elsa.

Elsa's instincts made her raise her arms and send a blast of ice at Zod that knocked him right off Power Tower. _What did I do?! Did I kill him?_ Elsa was horrified at the thought that she might have killed someone, and was actually relieved when Zod's angry face appeared next to hers.

"You are so going to pay for that," Zod growled, rubbing his shoulder. _Why was her ice able to knock me off? It actually hurt a little, too…This girl is more of a threat than she looks…_

Elsa slid down the ice ramp she'd used to get up there in the first place, hoping Zod would follow her. _Good,_ she thought as she heard Zod speed down the ramp behind her. She dove out of harm's way just as Zod reached the midway, scraping her knees in the process. _Ow. Shrug it off, Elsa; you can't bother with that now. _Elsa looked up to see…_Superman flying overhead?!_

Zod took advantage of Elsa's temporary inattention and shot heat beams at Top Thrill Dragster's top hat, completely severing it from the rest of the track.

The heavy top hat hurtled toward the ground.

A train of people on the track launched towards its doom.

There was no time to think. Elsa shot her hands up and replaced Dragster's top hat with one of ice. _Did I make it?_ Elsa sighed in relief as the train safely passed over the ice portion of the track without complication. _Where did the original track go?_ Elsa's question was answered as she saw Superman flying overhead, holding Dragster's original top hat. Superman put the heavy piece of track on the ground under the ride, then flew back to the midway.

* * *

><p>Anna snuck into the park amid the chaos of people at the entranceexit gates. She headed towards the midway because she'd seen Dragster's top hat disappear and then be replaced by ice. _Now where's Elsa?_ Once on the midway, she scanned the area for Elsa. Anna knew Elsa had to be nearby because of all the ice walls and the ramp leading up to the top of Power Tower. "ELSA! Where are you?"

**A/N: Anna, you should not have followed Elsa into the park...:P**

**Next chapter coming soon!:)**

**P.S. Still working on the Secret Passages chapter...I SHOULD get it posted later today.:)**


	27. Chapter 26-Day Twelve, Part 2

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who's followed/favorited and/or is reading but not reviewing!:)**

**bananas-rule-2015-Thanks for the review!:) Well, you know nothing _too_ bad can happen, 'cause of the K+ rating. Lol;)**

**On to the story! I know I posted a chapter earlier today, but I'm still going to go ahead and share this one.:)**

Chapter 26-Day Twelve, Part 2

Elsa was sure she'd heard Anna's voice. _I told her to stay in the ice-copter!_ "Anna, I don't know where you are, but I told you not to come in here!" She spotted Anna a ways down the midway. "LEAVE MY SISTER ALONE!" Elsa yelled as she saw Zod head towards Anna.

"Make me," Zod snapped back. He figured if he had Anna, he could use her against Elsa since she obviously cared about her. Zod grabbed Anna by the arm, and Anna screeched in protest.

"Release Princess Anna," Superman ordered as he flew over and landed in front of Zod.

"I don't think so. Look up-now the fight's three against two, and now both you and her are fighting at a disadvantage. I have both the girl's sister, and your reporter friend," Zod said.

Non and Ursa landed on the midway, aggravated that Superman had led them on a wild goose chase to the Fortress of Solitude from Metropolis.

On a sudden impulse, Elsa froze Ursa's and Non's feet to the ground. A moment later, the two Kryptonians gave a mighty jerk and pulled themselves free; but not without pulling up jagged sections of cement along with the ice, since Elsa's ice wouldn't give. The ground rumbled and rattled underfoot as if there were an earthquake.

_What have I done?! Rotten move, Elsa!_ Elsa filled in the gaps and cracks in the cement with ice as she ran towards Zod and her sister. At least now there weren't giant holes in the ground. "Release. My. Sister. Now!" she demanded.

"Well, I might…But then I get to take you captive instead," Zod said.

"Don't do it, Elsa! It's a trap!" Anna shouted.

"Shut up," Zod said.

Anna stuck out her tongue at Zod.

Elsa scanned the scene once more. Superman was fighting with Ursa and Non. _Well, at least the other two Kryptonians are occupied at the moment. I only have to deal with Zod._ _These are extenuating circumstances…I think this calls for a little misleading… _"You can have me as captive, but you have to release my sister first," Elsa said, her blue eyes looking straight into Zod's smirking face. _You can have me as captive, but you'll have to catch me first. _She grabbed Anna's hand and squeezed, willing her to understand to hold on tight and be quiet. _The nanosecond he releases Anna…impenetrable ice bubble time for her and me._

"How do I know you're telling the truth? Wait, it doesn't matter whether you are or not. I'll just get rid of the both of you at once." Zod had a nasty look on his face.

Before Elsa had time to think, Zod had grabbed her right arm and effortlessly thrown her over his shoulder. Elsa was vaguely aware of an awful cracking sound and Anna screaming. _Snow, snow, I got to land in snow._ She flew through the air and landed…in a pile of soft powdery snow.

"What just happened?!" Anna asked.

Elsa stared at Anna. "Why are you here? He threw me, not you…" She was puzzled. "And where are we?" _Too slow on your reflexes that time, Elsa…And that was insanely stupid to let Zod get close enough to you to try something like that. I guess I was so afraid he'd do something to Anna I didn't think about what might happen…_

"You kept holding my hand somehow, so I went flying along with you. And I _think_ we're behind part of your ice wall lining the midway," Anna said.

"Okay, so now what? This is crazy! And I specifically told you to stay in the ice-copter!" Elsa started to push herself to her feet, but gasped as a sharp pain shot up her right arm. "Oh, no…" She yanked up her sleeve to look at it. Even Elsa's limited medical expertise said arms were not supposed to bend like that. _Definitely broken._

"Elsa…? Are you all right?" Anna sounded concerned.

"Does _that_ look all right to you? Because it doesn't to me!" Elsa gestured at her arm with her other hand. "Sorry, Anna…I didn't mean to sound so snappish," she apologized. _Now what? _Elsa tried to think of what to do next. _If we stay where we are, we'll be sitting ducks whenever the Kryptonians find us. And if we leave…_

Anna broke into her thoughts. "Elsa, I'm really, really, really sorry! If I'd stayed in the ice-copter like you told me to, you wouldn't have gotten hurt!" Anna winced as she looked at her sister's arm. She was sure it had to be hurting Elsa a lot, even if Elsa didn't seem to be acting like she was in a ton of pain. _The way Elsa is, she's probably just not letting herself show it…_

"Look, Anna, you made a mistake, but it's too late to fix that now. Don't worry about it. Just help me figure out what to do here. My arm is hurting like crazy…I can't fight with it anymore. I don't know what to do! And we have to come up with something soon; they'll find us any minute." Elsa's arm was beginning to hurt worse by the second now that she had become fully aware of it, and it was making it difficult for her to think clearly. Plus, it was rather unsettling for Elsa to see her arm bending at that unnatural angle.

"Well…for one thing, can you, like, temporarily fix your arm with ice or something? It might hurt less." Anna gave Elsa a hug. "And I'm thinking, what if we go and get that kryptonite from home? We'll be able to defeat all three of the dumb butts in a second." Anna grinned, pleased with her plan.

Elsa tried what Anna had suggested and encased the injured area with ice using her good hand, making sure to leave her fingers free. _Anna's right; it feels a little better now. Anyway, at least I don't have to look at it anymore. _"Thanks, Anna. Let me think here for a minute…" _If we stay here, we'll be cornered. If we leave, we'll be followed. One of us should stay as a distraction, and the other should leave…_ "Okay, I think I have an idea. You sneak out of the park back to the ice-copter…and STAY THERE this time. I'll distract Zod long enough for you to hightail it out of here. Then I'll follow after you and we'll go back to Arendelle, get the kryptonite, and come back to the park." Elsa tried forming a snowflake in her right hand, but the effort made her arm hurt too much. She gave up and held her arm close against her chest. _Great. Not only did that hurt something awful, my right hand is completely useless power-wise now. If I can't even make a snowflake, I certainly can't make any ice blasts or anything else, either._

"I don't like that idea, Elsa! I don't want to leave you here with those creeps! You can't even defend yourself properly anymore. I saw what happened just now. You couldn't even make a snowflake with that hand…" Anna gave Elsa's injured arm a worried glance.

"Do you have a better idea, Anna?"

"Well, no, not really…"

"Then we're doing my idea. Go around the back of the game stalls and get back onto the main path once you clear the midway area. Quick, go!" Elsa said as she heard footsteps nearby. Anna reluctantly took off where Elsa had directed her.

* * *

><p>Elsa stood up and listened through the ice wall to the loud commotion on the other side. "So how do you feel now that your girlfriend is dead?" she heard Zod say.<p>

Elsa held back a giggle. _Boy, does he have the wrong idea. Not only am I not dead, but he's got the wrong girl, too!_ She melted a hole in the ice wall and stepped through, refreezing the hole behind her. "I am not Superman's girlfriend. You've got the wrong girl, Zod."

Superman whipped around at the sound of Elsa's voice. _Thank goodness she's all right, at least mostly, _he thought, eying the awkward way Elsa was holding her right arm.

"You're supposed to be dead!" Zod howled.

"Nice job, General," Ursa said, annoyed. "If she's fine, her sister probably is too."

"She's not fine. Look," Zod said. "I'm going to get you for real this time, Elsa! That was just a practice run before." He sent heat beams at Elsa, figuring that with an injured arm, she wouldn't be able to do anything to defend herself.

Elsa instinctively put her arms up, and Zod's heat beams hit the ice on her arm. The impact left her stumbling backwards holding her arm, but the heat beams bounced off back toward Zod, knocking him over.

"Ice bubble, Elsa!" Superman called.

Elsa nodded and made an ice bubble around Zod, who got to his feet and seethed when he realized what had happened. Elsa managed to make another bubble around Ursa, but Non dodged out of the way just in time. "Superman? Do you have this in hand?"

"Yes."

"Kryptonite," Elsa replied enigmatically, hoping Superman understood what she was going to do.

Superman nodded in understanding, and Elsa took off towards the entrance, towards the ice-copter. _I hope Anna made it out here safely._

* * *

><p>Anna waited impatiently for Elsa inside the ice-copter. <em>I should have stayed out here like Elsa told me to. Now poor Elsa has a broken arm, and it's all my fault. <em>She was very relieved to see Elsa come running out the entrance to the ice-copter. Anna opened the door on the pilot side. "I'm so glad you got out of there, Elsa!"

Elsa climbed into the ice-copter and shut the door. "All right, Anna, you wanted to help steer this thing; now's your chance. I can't control the ice-copter with one hand, so you have to help. Just follow my instructions, okay?"

"Ok. What do I do?"

"You are going to do the actual directional steering because that's the simplest. I'm going to take care of the pitch and yaw part. Use this joystick, all right? Push it to the right to turn right, left to turn left, forward to go up, and backward to go down." Elsa showed Anna how the joystick worked.

"All right, I got it."

"Okay, then…let's go." Elsa used her good hand to unfreeze the water-fuel and start the engine. _Come on, Anna, please do it right. We can do this if we work together._

Anna pushed the joystick forward too abruptly and they shot upwards in a flash. The nose of the ice-copter began to tip forward, and Elsa had to compensate by jerking her own controls to right the ice-copter. "Anna, you have to be more gentle! Don't jerk it around like that; you'll tip us sideways or upside down."

"Sorry," Anna said, and she meant it. "Is this better?" Anna smoothly turned the ice-copter around so it faced back across Lake Erie towards Arendelle.

"Picture perfect."

* * *

><p>They made it back to Arendelle without incident, landing on an improvised landing pad of ice in the fjord.<p>

"We're here to get the kryptonite and nothing else. We have to hurry," Elsa said.

"You should take care of your arm properly while we're here," Anna said as she climbed out of the ice-copter and ran around to Elsa's side.

"There's no time. My makeshift fix will do for now; it's not going anywhere. Impenetrable ice, remember?" Elsa smiled and held up her arm. "Thank you, Anna," she added as Anna helped her climb down.

The two ran to where Elsa's ice bubble surrounding Arendelle began. Elsa melted a hole just large enough for them to go inside and refroze it behind them. "Come on, Anna, the kryptonite's in my closet in my room."

Gerda met them in the castle courtyard. "Miss Elsa, what happened to you?"

"Uh, long story. Anna and I are just here to get the kryptonite. I promise I'll get it taken care of when we get back," Elsa said. "See you later!" She and Anna hurried upstairs to Elsa's room. "So where is it, Elsa?" Anna asked.

"In my closet…oh, here it is," Elsa said as she pulled the box containing the kryptonite out.

"I'll carry it," Anna said. "Hey, Elsa, did you know you've got a bruise right here?" she asked, pointing to her cheekbone. "You've got a shiner."

"No…wait, I bet I know where it came from though. Something smacked me right in the face earlier and I didn't know what it was. Whatever that something was is probably what did it. Anyway, it doesn't hurt, unlike my arm, so I'm not going to worry about it. Come on, Anna, we have what we need now." Elsa turned and headed out of her room with Anna following after her.

* * *

><p>While Elsa and Anna went to fetch the kryptonite, Superman was dealing with another problem back at Cedar Point. Zod and Ursa were unable to break out of Elsa's impenetrable ice bubbles, but they weren't stuck in place, so the large bubbles of ice were free to roll around the park, leaving destruction in their wake. It didn't help that the ice bubbles each contained an enraged Kryptonian criminal. Heat beams pinged around the inside of the bubbles until Zod and Ursa decided it was useless. That ice wasn't going anywhere. Once they realized that, they turned their efforts to simply destroying anything and everything that the bubbles encountered by rolling over them.<p>

Lois Lane would have found the whole scene comical if it wasn't so dangerous. _It looks like they're in giant hamster balls!_

Lex Luthor was simply appalled at this turn of events. He'd figured out what Elsa had meant when she had simply said, "Kryptonite" just before she left. _She's going to go get that piece of kryptonite _I _gave her and use it against General Zod, Ursa, and Non._ He was far from pleased at this and became even angrier at Elsa, but he had to admit that she thought fast on her feet and easily changed her plans to suit the circumstances. He didn't know that Anna had helped come up with the 'let's go get the kryptonite' idea. _Those two girls are tough cookies. Too bad they're on the 'wrong' side of the law._ Luthor thought he should warn Zod and the other two about Elsa's plan.

Meanwhile, Superman was tangling with Non high in the air. Finally he was able to pin Non beneath Dragster's original top hat, which still lay beneath the ride. Then Superman chased after the rogue criminals in the ice bubbles. The trouble was that there was nothing to grab hold of on the bubbles; they were smooth as glass all over. And they were impossible to crack. Superman held Zod and Ursa back with all his strength one moment, but the next moment they would just roll off in a different direction within the bubbles. _This is maddening! Why did I suggest for Elsa to do this? _The only good things about Zod and Ursa being trapped in the bubbles were that they couldn't destroy anything without rolling over it directly; they couldn't fly; and it would be fairly simple for Elsa to get them in contact with the kryptonite. _I hope either Elsa or Anna remembers to break the kryptonite into three pieces…_

* * *

><p>Soon, Elsa and Anna landed the ice-copter back in Cedar Point's parking lot. "Now, Anna, <em>please<em> stay here this time," Elsa said. "I don't think I can take getting the other one broken too," she teased.

Anna made a face, not appreciating Elsa's self-deprecating humor. "Elsa, how can you joke about that? It's going to take weeks and weeks for it to be back to normal!"

"And I say the situation needs a little levity. Good grief, Anna, you're usually the one cracking jokes. Anyway, I'm going into the park now. STAY HERE THIS TIME, all right?"

"I will, I promise."

"Good. This shouldn't take long. Two of the Kryptonians are already stuck in ice bubbles." Elsa hopped out of the ice-copter, wincing when she bumped her arm on the door. "Bye for now, Anna!" She quickly headed for the park gate, kryptonite box in hand.

Anna watched out the ice-copter's windows as her sister headed back into the park. _Come back soon, Elsa._

* * *

><p>Elsa walked quickly towards the midway where she had last seen Zod and the others. <em>I need to break the kryptonite into three pieces, <em>she thought. Once she arrived on the midway without being spotted, she ducked behind the ice wall on one side of the midway. She carefully sliced the kryptonite into three equal pieces with ice. _Can I hold the pieces with my right hand? All right, I can…sort of. Good enough._ Elsa came back out from behind the ice wall just in time to see two ice bubbles barreling toward her. _Whoa, I forgot to freeze those bubbles into one place! They've been rolling around the park the whole time Anna and I were gone!_ She immediately fastened the two bubbles to the cement with ice.

"Why are you back?" Ursa asked angrily from inside the bubble. "I would have thought you'd have left to tend to that arm."

"You fancy me a coward. Believe me when I say I won't give up until justice has been served. _Then_ I'll go take care of myself," Elsa replied. She quickly melted a hole in the bubble, tossed a piece of kryptonite in, and refroze it.

"Kryptonite!" Ursa shrieked.

Elsa calmly walked over to Zod's bubble and did the same thing she'd done to Ursa's, ignoring all the yelling and name-calling coming from within the ice bubbles. "Superman, where is the other one?" she asked when she saw Superman standing a bit farther down the runway.

"Pinned under Dragster," Superman told her, not coming any closer since he knew she still had one more piece of kryptonite in her hand.

"I'll be back," Elsa replied, and headed towards Dragster's grandstand, knowing that would be the best place to make the third ice bubble from. She asked permission from an employee to duck the fence before striding right towards Non. Without a word, she made an ice bubble around him, making sure the kryptonite piece was inside. Then she walked back to the midway. "Done."

"You know, Elsa…if they are exposed to the kryptonite long enough, they're going to die," Superman told her. "If we could transport them to the Fortress of Solitude, there is a molecule chamber there that would simply take away their powers instead."

"I think I have an idea…" Elsa replied.

**A/N: Next chapter coming soon!:)**


	28. Chapter 27-Day Twelve, Part 3

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who's followed/favorited and/or is reading but not reviewing!:)**

**bananas-rule-2015-Elsa's idea is in this chapter (obviously, lolXD).:) Well, I personally don't think Elsa's powers make her heal extra fast (I've seen some stories where Elsa gets hurt somehow and she's completely better by what seems to be two minutes later...:P), so it'd take however long a regular person would take for a broken arm to heal...several weeks, I guess.:P P.S. You know what, I have no idea exactly how many chapters there will be.:/ I just write and divide the chapters as I see fit afterwards.:P (This is why some chapters end up over 5,000 words and others are 1,000...;)) BUT...I know exactly when the story will end-'Day Twenty-One.';) And after that, I'll be doing a sequel story because I already have a whole plot lined up.:)**

**On to the story!:)**

Chapter 27-Day Twelve, Part 3

Fifteen minutes later, the ice-copter was hovering over Cedar Point with three large ice bubbles attached to its underside. Elsa and Anna shared the pilot seat since they were both taking care of the controls, and Lois Lane sat on the passenger side next to them.

"Elsa, if our cargo wasn't so high-risk, I would think this was hilarious," Anna said. "Must be a sight from the ground! Helicopter made of ice, Superman flying right outside it, and three ice bubbles containing those Kryptonians hanging below!" Anna laughed at the thought.

"Anna, please pay attention. We're holding a lot of extra weight on the ice-copter now, so it will be harder to control. And I can't just take over all the controls myself," Elsa said. "Superman, just tell us where to go! We'll follow you!" she shouted out the window.

Superman gave her a nod, and flew off in the direction of the faraway Fortress of Solitude.

* * *

><p>A few minutes later, Lois said, "Queen Elsa…I apologize for the jealous thoughts I had about you."<p>

"Just Elsa is fine; we're not in a formal meeting," Elsa replied distractedly, concentrating on her part of steering the ice-copter. "Wait…why would you be jealous of _me?"_

"I thought you were Superman's girlfriend! I mean, you have superpowers of your own; you're working with him to get rid of those Kryptonians…Then you announced 'I am not Superman's girlfriend. You've got the wrong girl, Zod.'"

Elsa began laughing. "Ms. Lane, I assure you Superman is _not_ my boyfriend in any way, shape, or form. It's a purely 'combine forces for a common goal' relationship…get rid of the threat from the Kryptonian criminals. I don't have any boyfriend, and to be quite honest, I'm not interested in the least, at least not at present." She paused, then added with a knowing look, "I know who IS Superman's girlfriend though."

Lois blushed. How did Elsa know? "Oh…well…" She changed the subject by saying, "How are you feeling?"

"Fine, I guess?" Elsa jerked back to complete attention on steering when Anna abruptly dipped the ice-copter down and started to tip them forward.

"No, no, I meant how is your arm feeling?"

"Well, it doesn't exactly feel _good_, if that's what you mean. But it's okay. Better than right after it happened," Elsa replied. Then she leaned over to whisper to Lois, "Don't talk about that any more-Anna thinks it's her fault and I don't want to upset her."

"Well, it kind of is! I saw what happened!"

Elsa sent her a look that said _Shush up or else_, and the conversation ended.

"Hey, Elsa, I think we're there! Look down below!" Anna said a minute later.

A crystalline structure lay below.

* * *

><p>Five minutes later, the three ice bubbles sat inside the Fortress of Solitude.<p>

"Elsa, you're going to see a red light over the whole room here, but it won't do anything to you," Superman said. "I'm going into the chamber over here so it won't affect me too. You can let them out in 5…4…3…2…1…Now!"

Elsa dissolved the three bubbles in quick succession, and an odd red light came over the room for a few seconds. Then it disappeared, and Superman easily steered the three now-powerless Kryptonians back outside, where Anna and Lois waited outside the ice-copter.

"Elsa, would you do the honors of remaking those ice bubbles?"

"Certainly."

"I'll turn these three in to the police. You go home and get yourself taken care of now," Superman told Elsa.

"What about Ms. Lane?" Anna asked.

"I'll just fly her home to Metropolis."

"Well, if this is good-bye, I vote for a GROUP HUG!" Anna said happily, pulling Elsa, Superman, and Lois into a hug.

"Um…Princess Anna?" Superman said in surprise.

"You're funny!" Lois said.

"Anna…please let me out," Elsa said. "You're hurting me…"

Anna quickly stopped her group hug. "Sorry, sorry, sorry! Are you ok, Elsa?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine…all right, so I suppose this is goodbye now. Bye, Superman; bye, Ms. Lane. Anna, I'll wait for you in the ice-copter, okay?"

A minute later, Anna joined her. "Elsa, I…I'm sorry…"

Elsa frowned at her. "Anna, I told you it was fine. A broken arm isn't the end of the world, you know. I'll get it fixed properly when we get home, and it'll be fine."

"But it wouldn't have happened in the first place if I'd just stayed in the ice-copter! Now you're the one paying for my mistake…again!"

"What do you mean 'again'?" Elsa started the ice-copter and added, "Let's go home."

"Uh, the accident from when we were little…that wouldn't have happened either if I'd listened when you said 'Wait! Slow down!'," Anna said as she started steering the ice-copter back towards home.

"Anna, stop it. You were only _five. _I am _not_ going to let you feel guilty now about something that happened thirteen years ago that was just as much my fault, if not more, as it was yours. _I'm _the one that hit _you_, not the other way around. And as for the present, okay, so maybe if you'd stayed in the ice-copter, it wouldn't have happened; but I was probably likely to get hurt anyway. I had already gotten smacked in the face and scraped my knees before you ever even came in the park. Just please don't worry about it…you didn't hurt me on purpose, or even technically do it yourself," Elsa tried to assure Anna. "If you're going to blame someone, blame Zod and the other Kryptonians!"

"Well…"

"Well, quit blaming yourself! 'I'm never going back, the past is in the past!'" Elsa sang at Anna.

Anna accidentally sent the ice-copter plummeting down. "Oops. Elsa, you sang in front of me! Like on purpose, and not with me, uh, eavesdropping on you."

"Oh, so you admit to eavesdropping on me," Elsa teased.

"Oops."

* * *

><p>When they finally arrived home to Arendelle, the first thing Elsa did was dissolve the ice bubble surrounding everything. Then she and Anna headed into the castle.<p>

"Now, Elsa, I want you to get yourself taken care of first thing," Anna said. "Then I'll get us something to eat. I'm starving!" She led Elsa to the castle infirmary. "Is anyone here?" Anna called as they walked in.

"Hello, Queen Elsa, Princess Anna. May I help you?" the doctor greeted them.

Elsa held out her arm. "I broke it earlier."

"You mean I did," Anna mumbled.

"You did not. Stop it, Anna."

The doctor looked at Elsa's ice makeshift fix. "That was a good idea. But you have to get rid of the ice if you want me to look at it."

"Tell Anna, then. It was her idea," Elsa said as she dissolved the ice. "Ow…"

"Here, sit down and just lay it on the table. I'll be right back."

Elsa slowly did as she was told. "Good grief, I should have just kept the ice on it. It hurts worse now than it did before!" She took one look at Anna's face and immediately regretted saying anything. "Anna, it's _fine._ Please stop; I hate the idea of you feeling guilty on my account." _I've done enough of that to count for both of us for a lifetime._

"But…"

"No buts! Stop it!"

The doctor came back, interrupting their conversation. "I'm going to have to set that…it's going to hurt for a minute, but it'll feel better right after."

"It already hurts," Elsa quipped and gave a lopsided smile. "Okay, in all seriousness, I'm ready."

Elsa scrunched her eyes shut and bit her lip to keep from making any noise. _It'sgoingtobeoveranyminuteit'sgoingtobeoveranyminute…_ Anna gave Elsa's good hand a comforting squeeze.

"All right, the worst part is over. You're really quiet. You didn't make a peep!" The doctor thought of a time several years before when Anna had broken her arm. Anna had screamed her head off.

Elsa relaxed and sighed in relief. "Was I supposed to make noise or something?"

"Princess Anna did several years ago when she broke hers after falling down the staircase one too many times."

Anna looked sheepish. "Ok, so I kinda remember that…"

"You never told me you did that," Elsa said. "Falling down the stairs?!"

"On a bicycle," Anna defended herself.

"I don't even want to know the rest of it! Anna, you're crazy! Riding bicycles down the staircase…good grief…" Elsa shook her head. "I told you that was a bad idea, and that proves it!"

"It only happened _once_," Anna defended herself as she helped Elsa settle her now-splinted arm in a sling.

"Isn't once enough? Because if it felt like mine does right now, once is one time too many," Elsa said. "Am I finished here now?" she asked the doctor.

"Yes. Usually I would suggest icing it and that bruise, but I don't think that's going to help you," the doctor said.

"No, probably not," Elsa agreed. "Thank you. Now Anna, how about getting something to eat?"

"Ok. Let's get you upstairs to rest and I'll bring something up," Anna said.

"All right."

* * *

><p>Five minutes later, Anna left Elsa in her room, saying she'd be right back with something to eat. Leaving the door open, Elsa settled herself on the bed and struggled to find a comfortable position for her arm, which hurt quite a bit more than she wanted Anna to think. "Oh, hello, Gerda," she said when she saw Gerda walk in the doorway.<p>

"May I get you anything? And how exactly did that happen anyway?" Gerda asked.

"No. Anna's getting us something to eat. And it's a long story…remember those Kryptonian criminals we went after?"

"Yes…"

"Well, they were at Cedar Point, trying to ransack the place. Superman and I went in after them. I told Anna to stay in the ice-copter, but she followed after us. When Zod-that was the criminal's name-found out Anna was my sister, he captured her, wouldn't release her, but then said he would if he had me captured instead. So…I agreed, and the next thing I knew he had grabbed my arm and Anna and I went flying. We landed in a pile of snow, so that was okay. He thought we were dead after that! You should have seen his face the next time he saw me." Elsa giggled at the memory.

"In other words it wouldn't have happened if Anna had done what she was supposed to…"

"Gerda, please! Anna already feels guilty about the whole thing. Let's not make it worse," Elsa said. "And really, I don't need anything. I'm fine. Anna will be right back. Will you shut the door behind you, please?"

Gerda left and shut the door. A moment later, there was another knock that was not Anna's signature one. _Who is it this time?_ Elsa thought. "Come in, please."

"I just forgot to give you some pain medicine when you were downstairs," the doctor said.

Elsa frowned. "Is it going to make me feel loopy and 'out of it'?"

"A little bit?"

"I'll keep the pain then, but thank you anyway." Elsa thought she might lose control of her powers if she wasn't completely coherent. _That medicine probably tastes disgusting anyway…and I'm not risking losing control._

"Well, I'll leave it up here in case you change your mind."

"All right. Please shut the door on your way out."

A minute later, there was a knock on the door yet again. This time Elsa recognized Anna's knock, so she said, "Come on in, Anna!"

Anna came in with a tray of food for her and Elsa. "I got us some chocolate and chicken."

"Chocolate chicken? That just sounds dee-licious!" Elsa said. "Okay, okay, I know what you really said. Thank you, Anna."

"Can I sit next to you?"

"Of course. You didn't even have to ask! But will you bring me a piece of paper and a pen first? I want to put a little note on my door."

Anna set the food tray down and gave Elsa what she asked for. "Um…d-d-do you want me to write something for you?"

"I can do it. Just a minute…" Elsa made herself a small sheet of ice to write on and carefully wrote a short message using her left hand.

"I could have sworn you were right-handed, Elsa! Are you _sure_ you don't want me to write whatever it is you're writing?"

Elsa just handed the note to Anna.

" 'Unless you're Princess Anna, please go away'," Anna read. "Signed, Queen Elsa. What's that supposed to mean? And are you ambidextrous or something?"

"That is so I don't have everyone bugging me every two minutes. And no, I'm definitely not ambidextrous. I _am_ right-handed. If you notice, that note looks like little-kid printing, but it is easily legible. I taught myself how to print with my left hand long time ago but could never get better than just printing. I can't do cursive or anything. Will you stick the note on my door, please?"

"Sure." Anna tacked the note to the door and came right back. She sat down next to Elsa, careful not to make the bed jiggle too much. "Does it still hurt a lot?" she asked, gently laying a hand on Elsa's arm.

Elsa involuntarily flinched away from Anna's touch. "It's…fine. Let's eat, Anna," she said, trying to change the subject.

"Elsa, you are not either fine! I think it hurts you more than you're letting on, and you made awful faces downstairs, even if you didn't make any noise. You're in pain, and it's _all my fault!_"

"Stop it right now, Anna. I swear, if you don't stop feeling guilty about this whole thing, I'm going to make sure Gerda doesn't give you any chocolate for a month. Not one nibble! I happen to know that feeling guilty equals feeling awful. Honestly, knowing that you're sitting there feeling like that hurts me far worse than my arm does," Elsa said.

"No chocolate for a month?!" Anna squeaked.

"Not one bit! Unless, of course, you stop beating yourself up about this. Then you can eat as much chocolate as you like. Within reason, of course."

"I'll try…I just can't help thinking it wouldn't have happened if I'd just listened and stayed in the ice-copter…"

Elsa tried to think of a good truthful response to that, one that wouldn't make Anna feel worse. "Well, you _are_ impulsive and don't look before you leap sometimes, but that's just part of your personality. Think about it this way: why did you follow me into the park in the first place?"

"I, uh…well, I saw two of the Kryptonians fly off with Superman following them. That meant you were alone in the park with the third one. I wanted to make sure you were ok," Anna said.

"And did you purposely get captured so Zod would want me instead and then throw us through the air in an effort to kill us?"

"Of course not!" Anna said indignantly.

"See? Your intentions were good. Things just didn't work out like you planned," Elsa said.

Anna smiled. "Thanks, Elsa. Can you pretend I just gave you a hug? I don't want to squish your arm."

"Can you pretend I just gave you a hug back?" Elsa smiled back at Anna. "And by the way, it's nice to be the one trying to cheer up the other for once! Usually it's you trying to cheer _me_ up."

* * *

><p>They ate in a contented silence for a while. Finally, Anna broke the silence by saying, "Can you believe it's only 4:30PM? It seems like days and days worth of stuff happened since this morning."<p>

Elsa laughed. "Yes, I can believe it! You know what I think? I think that we are making up for thirteen years of monotony by cramming all this excitement in just a few days."

"Agreed! Let's see…we've gotten rid of uh, nineteen dumb butts. And we 'discovered' some modern technology things, and we went to the epicness that is Cedar Point. Now I think I should have gone on Dragster with you."

"How did you come up with _nineteen_ you-know-what's? And I told you not to call people that, although I admit it sounds funny. About Dragster…I have an idea, but I'm going to need your help to make it work," Elsa said.

"Nineteen including Hans and his twelve brothers, King Boris, the Duke of Weaseltown, Lex Luthor, and the three Kryptonians," Anna explained. "What's your idea about Dragster?"

"Anna…I just remembered something. What did happen to Luthor after we left the park? Is he still at large?" Elsa asked.

"I don't know…I think we were so concerned about the Kryptonians we forgot about him."

_Oh no. That means trouble. _"Well, he needs to get turned in to the U.S. police!"

"Elsa, I'm sure the park security got him. It'll be fine," Anna said.

"Don't be dumb. The park security probably thought Luthor was another hostage, and if they didn't he probably feigned innocence anyway…And I just remembered I left all that ice all over the midway! It's going to be stuck there until I get rid of it, too. I have to go back! The park won't be able to operate like that. I was supposed to _help_ the situation, not leave it in a mess!" Elsa sounded agitated.

"Elsa, you are not going back to Cedar Point right now in your condition. It can wait a few days till your arm feels a little better," Anna replied.

"I'll go by myself then."

"You can't steer the ice-copter with one hand. You said so. You'll have to bring me with you, and I just won't come."

Elsa sighed in defeat, but perked up a moment later. "Well, as queen of Arendelle, I decree that you _have_ to come. So there. We're going right now. It won't take long."

"Hmph. Power trip, milady? And just what are you going to do if I don't listen?" Anna crossed her arms in annoyance at Elsa's 'I'm-the-queen' decision.

"No chocolate for the princess till the queen says otherwise."

"You wouldn't!"

"I would. Come on, Anna, please?"

"Will you sing with me at the Annual Crocus Festival?" Anna asked.

"I'll think about it."

"Say yes or I won't come."

"No chocolate, then."

"What about singing?"

"What about the chocolate?"

"SINGING!"

"CHOCOLATE!"

"SINGING!"

Elsa paused for a moment. _Well…how different can it be to sing in public versus by myself? Anna's listened who knows how many times…_ "Okay, Anna, I'll sing at the festival with you, but only under one condition-I get to pick the song."

"You will?! THAT'S AWESOME! I don't care what you pick; I just want to sing with you."

"Well, now that's settled; let's go fix Cedar Point and come back."

**A/N: Next chapter coming soon!:)**


	29. Chapter 28-Day Twelve, Part 4

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who's followed/favorited and/or is reading but not reviewing:)**

**princessdianaofparadiseisland-Lol, Anna's comment WAS funny...XD Thanks for the review, sis!**

**bananas-rule-2015-I think my sister got her review in just before you did...at least, my review page says that.:) I know...this story has gotten WAY out of hand with how long it is, but I've known where I want to end it for ages, so...yeah:P I'm glad you're enjoying the story!:)**

**On to the story!:)**

Chapter 28-Day Twelve, Part 4

Later that evening in Elsa's room after they had arrived back home from fixing the park (Elsa left the ice top hat on Top Thrill Dragster though since the original track was snapped off), Anna asked Elsa what she'd meant by saying she had an idea regarding Dragster but that she needed Anna's help to make it work.

"You know the Annual Crocus Festival is in nine days, right?" Elsa asked.

"Yeah…"

"And remember how we were talking about me maybe making an ice-ride for all the children to ride?"

"Uh-huh…"

"Well, what if I made more than one ice-ride for the festival? I could make a facsimile of Dragster if you really wanted to ride something like it," Elsa said. "Also, the reason I didn't want to make an ice-ride for the festival before was because I wasn't sure if I could make it a hundred percent safe. After visiting Cedar Point, I see all the flaws in the design I used when I made that ride in the hallway. I know how to make my ride designs safe now."

"That sounds really awesome, but why would you need my help to do it? I don't know anything about that stuff, and I sure can't help you build them," Anna replied.

"Blueprints." Elsa's laconic reply and smile told Anna _exactly_ what she had meant.

"You want my help drawing up ride design blueprints?!" Anna wasn't thrilled by that idea; she had tried to draw blueprints before and gave up when they turned out messy or completely implausible. "Elsa, I know you like drawing blueprints for fun, but it's not my thing…"

"Anna, you don't have to do all the calculations and such, just the actual drawing part. Actually, I have the overall designs pictured in my head right this moment," Elsa said.

"Then why can't you just make it and voila, nobody has to draw any blueprints at all?"

"The designs have to be tested on paper first," Elsa said patiently. "Look, I wouldn't mind drawing them myself-in fact, I would actually enjoy it, but I can't with my arm out of commission. My writing skills with my left hand aren't precise enough to draw blueprints. Either you help with the design blueprints, or there will be no ice-rides at the festival."

"Oh, all right. Just don't be mad if my drawings turn out crummy," Anna said.

"They won't be 'crummy'. It's easy and fun to make good blueprints with the right tools and math skills. The _only_ possibly bad thing is that it can be very time-consuming," Elsa replied. "And that last thing is definitely not bad when that's one of your main reasons for doing it in the first place, when you're too much of a coward to be able to leave your room," she added almost inaudibly to herself.

Anna caught Elsa's words and remembered something. "Hey, Elsa, hold on, I'll be right back. I've got something I think you should see."

* * *

><p>Before Elsa could reply, Anna had run out of the room. A minute later, Anna came back holding a very worn-out looking paper. Anna sat down next to Elsa and handed her the paper.<p>

Elsa stared at the paper in her hand. "Is this…is this one of _my_ drawings? It looks like my writing…it's the castle's floor plan…"

"Yeah, Elsa, don't you remember? You gave that to me the day after your sixteenth birthday. I've kept it safe ever since. I love it! Your drawing even convinced me to try doing one myself…that didn't work out too well, though."

"I gave that to you?" Elsa suddenly remembered exactly how she'd ended up giving that to Anna. _I remember now…the day before that was so rotten. Anna got in my room because I forgot to lock the door and she tried to help matters by talking to our parents…and it didn't help in the least. We just got in trouble instead. And I ended up exploding at our parents and freezing almost my whole room…I asked Gerda to give Anna that the next day in the hopes Anna would understand when I didn't reply to her knocks again. _Elsa began to shake with suppressed sobs, and the room's temperature began to drop. "Anna…please… just take it away…"

"Elsa? I was trying to make you happy! You don't know how many times I looked at that drawing and just _knew_ you still cared about me even if you didn't show it. And you were not a coward. A coward is a person who lacks the courage to do or endure dangerous or unpleasant things. That was and is DEFINITELY NOT you." Anna started to give Elsa a hug; then changed her mind, not wanting to hurt Elsa's arm.

Elsa shifted herself over a little and let her head lean on Anna's shoulder. "Thank you Anna," she said, sniffling. "Forget about my dumb arm; I…I…I want a hug anyway."

Anna gave Elsa a gentle hug, careful not to hurt her.

"Anna, you don't have to help with the ride design blueprints if you don't want to," Elsa said suddenly. "I'll figure out something else."

"I changed my mind-I want to. But you might have to, um, kinda explain things a lot!"

"That's okay. I don't mind. I drew blueprints all the time before by myself; it will be nice to share the activity with someone," Elsa replied with a small smile. "Who knows, maybe you'll decide it's a fun leisure time activity too!"

"That I highly, highly doubt! But I'm sure it'll be at least sort of fun since we're going to do it together," Anna said.

"Sisters together?"

"Sisters forever!"

Elsa started giggling. "Anna, do you realize how corny we just sounded?"

"Who cares? Sisters together; sisters forever. Sisters together; sisters forever!" Anna chanted, for no reason other than 'just because'. _And 'cause Elsa thinks it's funny and I want to make her laugh._

"You know, Anna, I can always count on you to get me out of a bad mood. I was crying not five minutes ago and now I'm laughing. Thanks, Anna," Elsa said.

Anna hopped off the bed and began capering around the room as she continued her chant rather loudly.

"Anna, do you…know what time…it is?! You're going to get…someone up here…to see what all…the noise is about!" Elsa managed to say between giggles.

Just then, Gerda opened the door and Anna ran right into the open door. "Ow! Oh, hi Gerda," Anna said.

"What was all the noise about in here?" Gerda asked.

Elsa sent an 'I told you so!' look at Anna before saying, "Gerda, I have a note on the door."

"I thought someone should tell Princess Anna to be quiet so you can rest."

Elsa sighed. "Gerda, Anna is fine. She is not bothering me in the least. I _am_ resting, thank you very much."

"You don't take care of yourself enough…you should do that more. And you always excuse Anna's behavior. You even excused Anna for being the main reason you ended up with a broken arm…_"_

"Anna is not behaving inappropriately. She's in MY room, and I say she can jump around like a monkey in MY room if she wants to right now. Believe me, I do _not_ always excuse Anna's behavior. You can ask her." Elsa sounded annoyed. "And what happened to my arm was _not_ Anna's fault. It was the Kryptonians' fault. No, Anna should not have followed me into the park, but she was just trying to check on me to make sure I was okay."

"Yeah, Elsa's right. She fusses at me sometimes when we're in public or something," Anna jumped in, and sent Elsa a grateful look.

"Good night," Elsa said, hoping Gerda got the message that she and Anna wanted to be left alone.

Gerda smiled as she left the room. She still thought Elsa should take better care of herself, but it was certainly nice to see her and Anna together after all that time in the past.

* * *

><p>The moment the door was shut, Elsa said, "Now, Anna, I really don't mind if you act silly up here right now, but please be a little quieter so we don't get bothered again."<p>

"Ok. I get it," Anna whispered.

"Well, you don't have to whisper…"

"I know," Anna said in a normal voice. "Can we play chess or checkers?"

"First let me see your face where you ran into the door. Then we can play, but I'm warning you I might fall asleep in the middle of our game."

"Oh, all right." Anna came back and sat down next to Elsa.

"Great job, Anna. I bet you gave yourself a nice shiner to match mine. We're going to look a sight at the festival." Elsa frowned. "Anyway, ice will help you even if it doesn't me, so here," Elsa gave Anna a small piece of ice.

"Thanks, Elsa. So…what'll it be-chess or checkers?"

"I don't care; you can pick," Elsa said. "Excuse me," she added when she yawned.

_Ok, so maybe we should just play tomorrow,_ Anna thought. "Um, Elsa, can we play tomorrow? I'm kinda tired."

"That's fine. Please turn out the lights when you go to bed. Good night, Anna," Elsa replied sleepily.

"Oh, Elsa, don't sleep like that. You'll be all achy in the morning. Here, let me help." Anna helped Elsa take off her sling, then lay down and prop her arm up with pillows.

"Thank…you, Anna…good night…" Elsa said.

"I'll turn out the lights when I go to sleep. I just want to read awhile. Good night, Elsa."

"G'night, Anna."

**A/N: Next chapter coming soon:)**


	30. Chapter 29-Day Thirteen, Part 1

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who's followed/favorited and/or is reading but not reviewing:)**

**bananas-rule-2015-Yep, you got the first review!:) Elsa and Anna were referencing events from 'Secret Passages', lol:P I tried to make it so that anyone reading one story but not the other wouldn't be thrown off, though...was it ok?:) I like writing happy Elsa and Anna, being able to be together without a certain someone being scared of hurting her sister again:/ :P Upset Elsa (like in Secret Passages) is harder to write, I think...because she has complicated feelings and she doesn't quite know what they are herself.:P**

**On to the story!:)**

Chapter 29-Day Thirteen, Part 1

"I TOLD you I'd stink at this!" Anna complained the next afternoon after ruining yet another barely begun blueprint drawing.

Elsa sighed. This was not going as well as she'd hoped. "Okay, let's just try a few things here before we do anything else. Can you draw a…let's see…a 39-degree angle using the protractor and then bisect it with the compass?"

"Yeah…Elsa, no offense, but I don't know why you think this is fun! IT'S LIKE LESSONS! Geometry ones! And it's boring!" Anna showed Elsa her work when she was finished. It was perfect aside from a single smudge.

"Well, doing what you just did by itself isn't fun, but when you use things like that to make a drawing of something cool, it _is_ fun. Good job, Anna," Elsa said as she looked at Anna's work. "All right…how about a 90-degree angle with the T-square, then draw a circle tangent to it?"

A minute later, Anna showed the paper to Elsa again.

"Perfect," Elsa told Anna.

After a few more practice examples, they went back to trying to work on the actual blueprints for Elsa's ideas. "Now, Anna, I _know_ you know how to do this. Just be patient, careful, and precise and it will come out perfect."

"_But I don't like geometry!_" Anna wailed. "Or being 'patient, careful, and precise'. This is too tedious for me-I feel like screaming and pinging off the walls!" _The ONLY reason I'm doing this is 'cause I want to help Elsa since she can't do it herself._

"Well, you're good at it, anyways, once you settle down. All the practice examples you did were perfect without any prompting or help of any kind from me," Elsa said. "If you don't want to do this anymore, that's fine, but I'm warning you right now I will not make any ice-rides for the festival unless we have blueprints of them first. The only one we don't have to draw is Dragster because that one I am just copying. And at the very least, we have to do a blueprint for the ice platform set up on stilts over the marketplace and surrounding area, because we need that to put the rides on."

"Why can't you just freeze the fjord and put the rides on it?"

"Because it's still summertime, Anna, and the fjord _is not supposed to be frozen._ Ahem," Elsa cleared her throat, trying to get the point across.

"Oh. Oh yeah. Well, can we just do the ice platform thing drawing and you can make the Dragster copy on top of it and that's it? Then I only have to help with one blueprint drawing."

"I guess so…but do you really think everyone wants to ride something like that? Remember, you yourself wouldn't ride the real Dragster when we were at Cedar Point," Elsa pointed out.

Anna grudgingly agreed. "I suppose I'll keep working at it. Sorry I ruined your hopes of us actually both enjoying this."

"It's fine-it would be weird if we both liked _all_ the same things," Elsa replied. "So I like drawing blueprints and you don't. Big deal. After my arm heals, I promise you will never ever have to draw a single blueprint again unless you suddenly change your mind about it. Actually you don't need to mess with blueprints for that long; just the ones for the festival, which is in less than two weeks now."

Anna made a face at Elsa's casual mention about her injury. "Elsa…I'm sorry. I'm over here complaining about having to draw blueprints, when I know full well you actually _enjoy_ doing it and can't…"

"Anna, I thought we went over this yesterday. You are forbidden to blame yourself for that whole thing. The queen of Arendelle will obliterate your chocolate consumption, remember?" Elsa smiled and elbowed Anna with her good arm.

"I remember." Anna gave Elsa a small smile back. "You know, Elsa, you're too self-sacrificing. About everything."

Elsa was incredulous that Anna would think of her that way. "_Me?_ You're the one who literally froze to death for me…I just…I'm not…" _Anna must have mixed up herself with me._

"Yes you are! Like right this second, you're insisting that I not blame myself when you're the one sitting there with a broken arm because you were saving me from something that wouldn't have happened in the first place if I had done what I was supposed to. And you could have refused to listen to our parents when you were little. What would or could they have done about it? You had the ability to literally turn them into popsicles for goodness sakes."

"I could never…" _Mom and Dad were scared of me anyway, and I never even considered doing that. At least not that I can remember._

Anna interrupted and continued, "You could have privately told me about your secret-well, I don't think that would have been such a bad idea anyway…But that's another story. You let yourself be isolated for years just for everyone else's safety."

"But that's what queens are supposed to do-protect their people at any cost. And to be honest, if I'd had my own choice, I would have still completely isolated myself from people, but I _would_ have gone outside my room sometimes when no one was around…"

"Shush, Elsa. Let me finish. You pushed me away all that time even though it killed you to do it because you cared about me. You _never gave up_ all that time. Most people would probably turn crazy or revengeful, but you didn't. Even when you ran away, you were thinking about everyone else. You ran away to keep everyone safe."

"But I _wasn't_ keeping everyone safe. I froze everything instead…" _I think I did give up in my head, even if I didn't appear to do so. _

"That's not the point. You did everything in your power to try to do good for everyone else around you, even when it wasn't in your best interest. Which kind of happened to be most of the time. You're right, it didn't work, but your intentions were good. Remember? You told me that same thing yesterday. And you know what? I don't believe you would have said that unless you believed it yourself. You really should take your own advice, Elsa," Anna scolded.

"You do know that's not the only reason I ran away, right? In fact, I didn't even think about everyone else until after I had built the ice palace. Anna, I was _terrified_ then-I wasn't even thinking clearly. All I could think was, 'You ruined everything. You need to leave. Everyone's going to hate you now. You ruined everything you've ever worked for with one careless motion.' It was like that thirteen years of isolation and heartache was all for naught. I had tried so hard to control it and it just wasn't good enough. _Nothing_ I did was ever good enough…I was a failure. Because I'm defective." Elsa felt like doing the clasping hands thing again; then realized she physically couldn't and just balled her left hand into a fist.

"That Weaseltown rat didn't help matters, I'm sure. He was-and is!-a humongous creep," Anna huffed. "And Elsa…that 'conceal don't feel' thing was bound to fail from the beginning. I'm impressed you kept it in as long as you did, actually. You were and are not a failure. And you are not and were not defective! I wish you'd stop calling yourself names. Elsa, I know sometimes you think of yourself as a namby-pamby wimp or something, but you're not. You're a strong person; you never give up; you're determined; I could go on and on."

_She really thinks that about me? Anna thinks those things? And Anna read my thoughts, too…_ "And I'd be lying to myself and you if I didn't admit I partly ran away for _me._ I was on the North Mountain, far away from everyone. I thought I was free to be myself for the first time in thirteen years, even if I was still alone. I can't tell you how relieved and thrilled I felt to…" Elsa's voice trailed off.

"…Let it go after all that time?" Anna finished, draping an arm around Elsa's tense shoulders.

"Well, yes. Hey wait, how did you know the exact words I was going to say?"

"It IS a logical conclusion to that sentence, you know," Anna said. "And just for the record, I think you had full rights to feel that way. I mean, who wouldn't? In fact, I'd think you were crazy if you didn't."

* * *

><p>Elsa suddenly pulled away from Anna. "You know what, Anna? I have something to show you. Actually, technically it's something for you to hear."<p>

"Oh boy, are you going to sing something for me?!"

"Yes." Elsa walked to the middle of the room and smoothed her dress down nervously. "Now if you hate it, please tell me to stop, okay?"

"I'm quite sure I won't, but ok." Anna watched Elsa expectantly. "Um…you can start anytime! I'm ready!"

"All right. I…sang this up on the North Mountain…" Elsa closed her eyes and began,

"_The snow glows white on the mountain tonight,_

_Not a footprint to be seen…_

_A kingdom of isolation_

_And it looks like I'm the queen._

_The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside…_

_Couldn't keep it in, heaven knows I've tried._

Elsa opened her eyes and looked at Anna before continuing,

_Don't let them in, don't let them see_

_Be the good girl you always have to be_

_Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know_

_Well, now they know!_

Elsa wasn't sure she wanted to finish the song; it was bringing up things she would have rather forgotten about. But she was determined to finish _all_ of the song. For Anna.

_Let it go, let it go_

_Can't hold it back anymore_

_Let it go, let it go_

_Turn away and slam the door_

_I don't care what they're going to say!_

_Let the storm rage on…_

_The cold never bothered me anyway._

Elsa remembered the double meaning she'd meant regarding the cold. The cold temperature genuinely didn't bother her; but the other kind of cold…the way certain people treated her, the way she thought she had to feel and act all the time-emotionless, aloof, impassive…that did bother her. It _hurt_, and Elsa had tried to convince herself it didn't matter any longer.

_It's funny how some distance makes everything seem small_

_And the fears that once controlled me can't get to me at all!_

_It's time to see what I can do_

_To test the limits and break through_

_No right, no wrong, no rules for me_

_I'm free!_

Elsa felt a mixture of emotions now; she remembered how happy she'd been when she had sung those lines on the North Mountain originally, but those words had a nasty bite to them as well. 'No rules' was just as bad an idea as 'conceal don't feel', and she had _not_ been a hundred percent free, no matter what she had thought at the time.

_Let it go, let it go_

_I am one with the wind and sky!_

_Let it go, let it go_

_You'll never see me cry!_

_Here I stand and here I'll stay…_

_Let the storm rage on…_

Elsa subconsciously did the same stamp and turn motions she'd done before.

_My power flurries through the air into the ground…_

_My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around…_

_And one thought crystallizes like an icy blast_

_I'm never going back_

_The past is in the past!_

Elsa was cheerful as she remembered building her ice palace, especially the intricate chandelier materializing out of the ceiling; but she inwardly cringed as she remembered what she had been doing when she sang those last two lines on the North Mountain. _And I never did find that crown,_ she thought.

_Let it go, let it go_

_And I'll rise like the break of dawn_

_Let it go, let it go_

_That perfect girl is gone!_

_Here I stand in the light of day…_

_Let the storm rage on!_

_The cold never bothered me anyway."_

Elsa finished her song and bit her lip as she looked over at Anna. Anna was simply staring at her, speechless. _Anna must have hated it. Or thinks I was being immature and selfish…which wouldn't have been entirely wrong._ "You hated it."

Anna scrabbled to get her words and thoughts together. _Elsa just shared some of her most private thoughts and feelings with me. She may have been happy when she sang that originally, but she kind of sounded like she was trying to convince herself that she really was some of the time. 'The cold never bothered me anyway'… double meaning there, I'm almost positive. Elsa meant the literal cold temperatures didn't bother her, yeah, but she was also trying to convince herself that she was fine with being "cold" and alone… Oh, Elsa. _Anna hated to think about everything that had probably made Elsa feel that way. "No way, Elsa! I didn't hate it! It was superb! You should sing more often." She ran to give Elsa a hug.

"Ow! Anna, that _hurts!_" Elsa exclaimed when Anna's hug put pressure on her arm.

Anna immediately jumped away from Elsa. "Sorry! Sorry, I forgot!"

"It's fine. It'll feel better presently… Anna, you really, sincerely didn't hate it? I want to know your honest opinion," Elsa said.

"No, it was great, Elsa! Really! It started out depressing, and then it was like you flipped a switch and everything was happy. And it was like a complicated mixture of different things…it alternately was sad, upset, thrilled, angry, delighted, regretful, relieved, the works. You sounded purely exultant and on top of the world at the end," Anna explained. "Your song took me on a wild emotional ride."

"You got all that out of my singing?" Elsa was surprised; Anna had pretty much pegged everything.

"Oh Elsa, it wasn't hard. Anyone would have gotten the point. It was written all over your face and I could hear it in your voice," Anna said. "You know what I think? You ought to sing that at the festival! Everyone would love it!"

Elsa's face grew bright red at Anna's explanation and suggestion. "Oh, no, no, no! No way! I can't sing that at the festival!"

"Why not?" Anna asked.

"Because I'd die of embarrassment! I barely wanted to share it with you. Anna, that song expresses, as you said, a lot of different emotions. Most of which are ones that I never, ever want to share with anyone. Not to mention, that is _not_ the person I am today. I came back to Arendelle. People have seen me cry-remember, out on the frozen fjord? And declaring myself above rules was just as stupid as 'conceal don't feel', no matter what figurative meaning I really meant when I sang that. Yes, it's impossible for _anyone_ to be 'perfect' _all _the time, but I think I went a little overboard the other way," Elsa said, turning her gaze away from Anna. "Also, none of that makes a good representation for a queen. I think it makes me sound puerile, childish, and immature."

"Well, ok," Anna said hurriedly before Elsa could start making herself upset again. "Anyway, thank you for sharing your special 'alone' song with me. It was wonderful. We do need to hurry up and pick something to sing at the festival, though."

"I know. I'll think of something. Let's go back to the blueprints…I would really like to get _something_ finished today. We don't have that much time."

* * *

><p>Elsa and Anna moved back to the desk to work on the blueprints. "So, I'm thinking…the platform should be elevated 15 feet above the ground. That should be high enough to keep the marketplace and surrounding area from feeling boxed in by the platform overhead, without going overboard on the height. The platform doesn't need many stilt supports since my ice won't buckle and crack, so…five supports total. One in each corner and one in the center for insurance's sake."<p>

"You really planned this out in detail, didn't you?" Anna asked as she sketched Elsa's idea. "Ok, how's this?" she asked a few minutes later.

"Looks good. Now let's get a bird's eye view by getting the distance/ dimension measurements we need off a map. Just a minute; I'll go get the map we need from the library," Elsa said. A few minutes later, she came back holding a rolled-up map. "Here we go. We need the platform from here to here and here," she said, pointing to the different spots on the map.

"So just draw a rectangle on the paper and mark the dimensions?" Anna asked.

"Correct. But we have to translate the distances from inches to miles too, so the scale from map to drawing to real life is still the same. I can do the scale calculations… just give me a minute to think." A minute later, Elsa rattled off the numbers, and Anna added them to the diagram.

"So are the platform drawings finished now?"

"Yes. All we needed were the sketch and the bird's eye view with the dimensions. Do you want to take a break?" Elsa asked.

"Yeah, for dinner! It's just about dinnertime," Anna replied. "Do you want me to ask Gerda to bring us some dinner up here or are you up for going down to the dining hall?"

"I want to go downstairs, but…"

"But what?"

"I, um, can't braid my hair," Elsa said, embarrassed. She'd managed to brush it out that morning but hadn't been able to rebraid it with her one usable hand.

"So? It looks fine to me." Anna sounded puzzled.

"I can't go downstairs with it loose like this…" Elsa's long platinum hair hung down to just past her waist. _I wonder what would happen if I did do that._

"Well, I don't see the big deal, but I'll braid it for you if you like," Anna said. "In fact, I'll do it every day." She knew Elsa liked wearing her hair in her 'signature' braid all the time.

"Really?"

"Yeah, sure. Just turn around and hold still."

Elsa obliged, and a couple minutes later, Anna announced she was finished. "I don't think it's _exactly_ the same as the way you usually do your braid, but it looks pretty close," Anna said.

"Thank you, Anna, I'm sure it looks fine." Elsa pulled her braid in front so it hung over her shoulder.

"So…dinner downstairs?" Anna asked.

"Ready."

"Double ready."

"Triple ready."

"Quadruple ready." Anna sounded not quite a hundred percent certain if that were the right word.

"Quintuple ready."

"Um…sextuple ready?"

"Septuple ready," Elsa shot back instantly.

"Um…uh…I don't know. I give up!"

"It would be 'octuple' next. Anyway, if you'd said 'octuple', then I would have had to say 'I give up' because I'm not sure what the nine times over word is," Elsa said with a smile. "Hmm, maybe I'll go look that up later…Anyway, now that we are quite definitely ready, let's go downstairs."

**A/N: Yes, Elsa sang Let It Go for Anna...:P :)**

**I've tried to make Elsa's feelings about past events realistic...I don't think all those negative feelings mysteriously disappeared entirely at the end of the movie. I mean, she's definitely much, much happier and she's reunited with Anna, but I don't think 13 years of feeling terrified and isolated just disappeared overnight. IDK...Opinions, please?:)**

**Next chapter coming soon!:)**


	31. Chapter 30-Day Thirteen, Part 2

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who's followed/favorited and/or is reading but not reviewing!:)**

**Optomistic-Thanks for the review!:) That's what I think too-and I think Let It Go is kinda complicated in its meaning if you really pay attention to the lyrics:P I'm glad you liked the chapter!:)**

**bananas-rule-2015-I'm glad you liked it:) Lol, Elsa knows how to fix her roller coaster(s) designs now, so they'll work fine. Assuming she can get Anna to finish helping her draw them first.;) P.S. It's present day, but Arendelle isn't up to date on modern technology. They're still stuck in the 1800's as far as tech goes. Yeah, I know it's a bit odd, but I don't want to ruin the Frozen universe, lol.:P This way the _only_ AU things I've done are moving Arendelle to the Canadian side of Lake Erie, and it's present day even though Elsa's and Anna's tech knowledge is way, WAY behind the timesXD Hopefully that's kinda sorta clear. (As far as I'm concerned, in my story-verse, everything happened exactly like in the movie. 'Secret Passages' is on the same timeline in my head, but since I'm not going to mention Arendelle's location at all in that story, you can decide whether Arendelle is where it's supposed to be in/around Norway or where I moved it to on the Canadian side of Lake Erie.:P) I hope this wasn't too confusing...:/ :)**

**On to the story!:)**

Chapter 30-Day Thirteen, Part 2

"I didn't expect to see you down here tonight, Miss Elsa," Gerda said when Elsa and Anna came into the dining hall. "How's your arm feeling?"

"It still hurts but it feels a little better," Elsa replied. "What's for dinner this evening?" she asked to change the subject. Elsa did _not_ want anyone fussing over her.

"Chile, and it's the non-spicy kind you and your sister like," Gerda told her.

"Yummy!" Anna said.

Gerda left and came back with two steaming bowls of chile.

"Thank you. Oh, it's way too hot!" Elsa exclaimed, nearly spitting out the bite she'd just eaten. _You'd think after over a month of being able to feel heat I'd have stopped doing the 'ooh, too hot!' thing about hot food…_

Anna snickered from across the table. "Elsa, what temperature did you think it was going to be? There's, like, steam coming out of the bowl!"

"Not anymore there isn't," Elsa said, quickly cooling her bowl of chile. "_Much_ better."

Anna loudly blew on her own chile to cool it and earned a disapproving look from Elsa. "It's not my fault I don't have a built-in cooling system! Hey, I know-you can cool it for me!"

"Are you sure you want me to do that?"

"Yeah!"

Elsa grinned at Anna, and a moment later Anna's chile was encased in a block of ice.

"Elsa! You did NOT just do that! I don't want ice-chile!"

Elsa couldn't hold in her laughter. "You didn't say how much you wanted me to cool it off, so I went all the way!"

"Real mature, Elsa. Right, you really thought I wanted to eat frozen chile. I'm not buying it," Anna said, slightly irritated but still thinking it was pretty funny.

Elsa thawed Anna's chile and said, feigning innocence, "What? You don't think frozen chile is tasty?"

"No! Oh, thanks, that's much better," Anna said when she noticed her chile was back in an edible state again.

Gerda smiled as she watched Elsa's and Anna's antics.

"Oh, Gerda, I want to ask you about something," Elsa said. "Do you have any suggestions for the Annual Crocus Festival?"

"Well, what do you have planned so far, Miss Elsa?" Gerda asked.

"Purple and yellow banner decorations…serve barbeque chicken and ice cream…" Elsa started.

"NO wine," Anna jumped in.

"Have milk and grape juice…oh, and go ice skating in the courtyard," Elsa finished.

"Oh, oh, oh, and Elsa's going to make ice-rides set up on an elevated ice platform!" Anna added excitedly. "We're working on some dumb old blueprints to make sure Elsa's ride designs work properly."

"The blueprints aren't dumb," Elsa said, frowning.

"I didn't mean they were _literally_ dumb, Elsa. I meant that I don't like drawing blueprints 'cause it's boring for me and I don't like it."

"I told you that you didn't have to draw any more if you didn't want to. Just remember that if we don't finish them, then there will not be any ice-rides of any kind at the festival," Elsa said.

"I _know_ that! I didn't say I wouldn't finish them with you; I said I didn't like doing it. And I still don't get why you can't make the rides without making blueprints first anyway."

"Anna, I'd do the blueprints myself if I could, but I _can't_! Remember?" Elsa said, gesturing at her broken arm. "And I can't make the rides without making blueprints first because the designs have to be tested on paper first."

"Ok, ok, I get it, Miss Geometry Genius. I'll help finish them, but I still don't like it. I'm going upstairs 'cause I'm done eating," Anna replied. "I'll be in the library." Anna pushed her chair back from the table and left the dining hall.

Gerda had been just watching Elsa's and Anna's sister spat escalate. She hadn't seen the two argue for a long time, not counting at the coronation party. _Well, they _are_ sisters; they're supposed to fight sometimes...they're probably more irritated with the situation than each other. Anna is most likely annoyed with the prospect of sitting still for any length of time to work on blueprints, but thinks she should just to help Elsa. Elsa is probably frustrated that she's unable to do it herself, especially when her helper doesn't even want to do it at all and she herself would actually enjoy doing it…_ "Are you certain there is no other way to test the designs, Miss Elsa?"

"I'm positive," Elsa said, stirring what was left of her chile around. "Anna and I finished the platform drawings earlier, but if we want more than a copy of Top Thrill Dragster to ride at the festival, we have to do a _lot_ more work…"

"What on earth is a Top Thrill Dragster?"

"Oh, one of the roller coasters at Cedar Point. I rode it while we were there-it was rather amazing if I say so myself-but Anna wouldn't ride it. Now she wishes she had; so I said I'd make a facsimile of it," Elsa explained.

"Why wouldn't your sister ride it?"

"Because it launches 0 to 120 miles an hour in 3.8 seconds and is 420 feet tall," Elsa announced.

"Miss Elsa, you have to be kidding…"

"I'm not! It really does. The whole thing is over in a flash." Elsa snapped her fingers to accentuate her point.

Gerda was surprised Elsa had ridden it and Anna hadn't. "Er…if you'll excuse me for saying so, I don't think everyone is going to want to ride something like that at the festival. I know I personally wouldn't."

"I know! That's what I said to Anna when I told her we needed to finish the ride design blueprints. I'm so frustrated…I would just do them myself, but I can't because of _that_." Elsa looked disdainfully at her arm. "And I understand that Anna doesn't like drawing blueprints-I really do! I don't mind that she doesn't like it, but I need her help to finish them. What I don't get is why she doesn't like it in the first place. She's really good at it."

"I think it's too much sitting still for your sister, if you know what I mean. Perhaps you and Anna could work on the designs for short periods at a time," Gerda suggested.

"Thank you, Gerda. I think we shall try that tomorrow and see if it doesn't make a difference," Elsa said. "Thank you for dinner…I'm going to go upstairs to the library and find Anna."

* * *

><p>MEANWHILE…<p>

Anna sat noodling around at the piano in the library, trying to figure out a song she'd heard at Cedar Point. _Ready to go…boo, HOW did that song go? I wish Elsa was up here-she's the one that normally plays piano, not me. She could probably figure this out…_ She was oblivious to the two intruders that entered the library through the window.

"What luck, there's Princess Anna," one whispered.

"So? You said you wanted her sister," the other said.

"Shut up, Otis!" the first one hissed. "Sometimes I can't believe I have such a numskull henchman. Do as I told you."

"Ok," Otis said in a normal voice. "Um…hands up, Princess Anna?"

Anna turned toward the sound. "What for?" Her eyes went wide when she saw the gun Otis was holding. "Oh, that's why."

"You scream, Otis shoots," Luthor said.

Anna immediately recognized Luthor. _Elsa was right…he's on the loose. What was it he wanted Elsa for before? Oh yeah, he wanted her to help him get rid of Superman…I bet this has SOMETHING to do with that._ Pleased with her deductions, Anna didn't scream. She dashed across the room and attempted to disarm Otis instead. "You…give me that stupid thing! Why are you two dumb idiots even here?"

"I forgot to mention making a scene will make him shoot you, too," Luthor said casually.

"I…don't…think…so," Anna retorted, straining to twist the gun out of Otis's grasp. She'd managed to loosen his grip partly, but couldn't get any farther than that.

"Oh, no problem. I have one too." Luthor pulled another gun out of his jacket.

"Rats," Anna replied. _Ok, it's stupid to keep doing what I'm doing if they're both armed…_ She released Otis and glared angrily at the two.

"Good choice," Luthor said.

Anna stuck out her tongue.

"Sassy little thing, aren't you," Luthor said.

Anna decided to play dumb, as if she had no idea why they were there. "What do you want with me anyway?"

Luthor didn't answer Anna's question, thinking that she wasn't as dumb as she would have liked him to think. "Come here." He tied Anna's hands behind her back and fastened her to a chair.

"You do know Elsa is going to kick your dumb butts when she comes up here," Anna said angrily. "She'll be up here any minute." _At least I hope Elsa will be up here soon…_

"Will she now. I happen to know your sister has an injured arm. She might be able to disarm one person with one hand, but she won't be able to disarm two," Luthor said.

"Oh, I forgot. You were in cahoots with those Kryptonian creeps, so you were there when Elsa's arm got hurt," Anna said sarcastically. She decided to drop her playing dumb act, since it didn't seem to be making any difference. "Luthor, you've taken me hostage because you want my sister, probably for something regarding disposing of Superman. I _promise_ you, I don't know exactly how, but Elsa will not agree to that no matter what you do, and she _will_ get me out of here safely. You know, I really feel bad for you. Elsa might turn you and Odiferous Otis into popsicles." _Well, I know she won't freeze them, but…_ Anna was actually a bit worried, because it was true that Elsa would have a hard time defeating two gun-equipped people with one hand. _I'm sure Elsa will think of something-she's smart…_

Luthor was a bit taken aback at Anna's claim, because she was completely correct. But he did not intend to let Anna know that. "Well, we'll just have to wait and see, won't we?"

_Ha! I'm right; he didn't deny it,_ Anna thought.

**A/N: Annndd...there's another problem for Elsa and Anna to fix.:P**

**P.S. This is specifically for Optomistic and bananas-rule-2015, but to anyone else who read 'Ice Cream Escapade' as well: I do not have a series of Frozen one-shots at the moment, but I do have three more solid ideas in my head. Since I started 'Adventures of Elsa and Anna' and 'Secret Passages' first, I'm going to concentrate on those, but I'll post another one-shot as soon as I can.:) If you have ideas for one-shots, please PM me and I'll reply ASAP. (*coughcough*Elsa and Anna have to be 8 and 5 or younger, because the stories supposed to be happening pre-accident;) :))**

**Next chapter coming soon!:)**


	32. Chapter 31-Day Thirteen, Part 3

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who's followed/favorited and/or is reading but not reviewing:)**

**bananas-rule-2015-Cool, I'm glad you enjoy it!:) I'll try to get another one-shot posted soon:P Lol, of _course_ Elsa's going to save the day...'cause she's Elsa!XD (Ok, with a little help from Anna;)) I PMed you, by the way:) P.S. I like long reviews, though;)**

**On to the story!:)**

Chapter 31-Day Thirteen, Part 3

Elsa paused outside the library, her hand poised over the doorknob. _I could have sworn I just heard a man's voice in there. What is going on in there? Anna's not making a fuss, so it can't be some kidnapper…_ She slowly eased the door open, unsure of what she would find on the other side. Elsa took in the scene before her. There was Lex Luthor and another man she didn't recognize, both holding guns pointed at Anna; and there was a very irritated-looking Anna tied to a chair. An open window revealed how the two intruders had gotten in. _I should have known. I knew Luthor was still on the loose. Let's see…I have to be careful how I handle this. They're both armed. And I only have access to half the built-in defenses I usually do…_ Elsa strode into the room and said in the sternest voice she could muster, "I do not appreciate intruders in my castle, especially when they tie up the princess. Release Princess Anna. Now."

"Oh, come now, Elsa. You can't possibly think I would just release your sister just like that. No, no, no, I need your help with something," Luthor said.

"I am Queen Elsa to you. And if you think I will help you obliterate Superman, you are sadly mistaken. I advise you get yourself and your crony out of my castle unless you want to be arrested for trespassing, along with assault and battery," Elsa shot back.

"Mistaken, my queen? You will still refuse to lend your assistance under the threat I kill your sister?"

Elsa was appalled at this, but refused to let her face show it. "Take those guns off my sister," she ordered. _You will _never_ hurt my sister. You'll have to kill me first._

Luthor decided to change tactics partly. Nodding at Otis to cover Anna, Luthor trained his own gun at Elsa.

Elsa found herself looking down the barrel of Luthor's gun. "You will not win here. You do know I can render your weapon useless. A useless hunk of ice, if you will."

"Why, yes, I do. But you cannot freeze both guns at once in your condition," Luthor replied as he walked towards Elsa.

Elsa glanced down at her broken arm resting in its sling, and then stared right back at Luthor advancing toward her. _He has a point. Now what do I do?_ She winced as Luthor pressed the barrel of the gun against her arm.

"You freeze my gun-Otis shoots your sister. You freeze Otis's gun-I shoot you," Luthor threatened.

Elsa found herself stumbling backwards right into the wall. She struggled to think clearly through the pain in her arm. Elsa would choose Anna's safety over her own any day, any time; but she had no way of knowing if Anna would truly be safe afterwards if she did that and disarmed Otis. Luthor might very well just shoot Anna anyway since there would be no one to stop him. _Think, Elsa, think. There has to be a way out…to get both yourself and Anna out safely._

Anna's voice cut into Elsa's thoughts. "Please don't do anything to Elsa! She's already hurt!" Anna begged. Anna could tell from Elsa's pained expression and the frost spreading under Elsa's feet that something was dreadfully wrong, even if she couldn't a hundred percent tell what exactly was going on.

Luthor replied simply, "Shut up. And you, stop freezing the floor," he told Elsa.

Elsa looked down. She hadn't even realized she was making frost on the floor. _Okay, Elsa, calm down. Don't let him know you weren't doing that on purpose though. I don't need him knowing how my powers work; that they're affected by my emotions. _She made the frost stop spreading, but purposely didn't dissolve what was already there. Elsa's arm was still throbbing painfully from the pressure of Luthor's gun against it, but Anna's words had made Elsa think of something. _He can't 'do anything' to me. I would be useless to him with a bullet in me. And he can't shoot Anna either, because he knows then I really definitely will not help him._ With this thought, she informed Luthor, "You won't shoot me. You don't want me dead. You want my help. Therefore you will not shoot Princess Anna either, because you know I will certainly not help you then." Elsa gazed intently into Luthor's eyes. She watched as his smug expression faltered. _You've guessed his plan, so move quickly before he comes up with a new one, _she thought.

Elsa sent an ice blast flying across the library that knocked Otis's gun out of his hand onto the floor next to Anna's feet. Then she grabbed Luthor's gun and iced it over completely. Luthor released the gun in surprise, and Elsa tossed it out into the hallway. "I warned you that you would not win here."

"I still have a chance." Luthor ran to pick up the gun Otis had had lying on the floor, but Anna managed to kick it out of reach under the sofa.

Elsa froze both Otis's and Luthor's feet to the floor.

Luthor stewed.

Otis looked completely baffled as to what just happened.

"I told you Elsa would kick your dumb butts," Anna said triumphantly.

* * *

><p>Elsa ran across the room to Anna. "Are you all right, Anna?" Elsa struggled to untie the ropes keeping Anna to the chair.<p>

"I'm perfectly fine, just a bit shaken up. Um, Elsa, what on earth are you doing?" Anna asked.

"I'm trying to get these knots untied, which is rather difficult when you're using only one hand. Wait, I know how I can do this…" Elsa froze the rope through and snapped it in half. "There. Are you sure you're all right?"

Finally free, Anna stood up and said, "I should be asking _you_ that question. Elsa, your arm…" Anna looked concernedly at Elsa, who was now cradling her injured arm with her left hand.

"It'll be fine…it's just that getting it poked with a gun didn't feel too good, to say the least." Elsa gave Anna a small smile. "Now I need you to do something for me. Get that gun out from under the sofa. Then take it with you and get a few guards to come up here and take care of these two."

"You got it." Anna reached under the sofa, retrieved the gun, and took off downstairs.

* * *

><p>Elsa sat down on the sofa, her eyes watching Luthor and Otis, although she was quite certain they wouldn't be going anywhere. She decided to ask a few questions. "Mr. Luthor, how did you break in through the window?"<p>

"Via hot-air balloon," Luthor smirked. "Who messes with guarded gates?"

"A what?" Elsa walked over to the still-open window and peeked outside. _Whoa…a huge balloon with a basket hanging below that's large enough to hold people…_ Luthor's mode of transportation was tethered outside. "Why did you think you could convince me to help you get rid of Superman now all of a sudden? My answer was no before, and it will remain that way."

"Oh, I knew you couldn't be convinced. Hence taking your sister hostage. Needed to strike sooner rather than later because of well, you know." Luthor gestured at Elsa's arm.

"No, I _don't_ know. That is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard. What you're telling me is that you thought I was too hors de combat to defeat you; yet you still believed I could defeat Superman. How illogical can you get?" Elsa was surprised and annoyed by Luthor's opinions and assumptions.

"Getting all fancy with the vocabulary, are we?"

"Do you need me to define it? 'Hors de combat' means out of action due to injury or damage. A synonym for 'incapacitated'. Is that term more to your liking?" _What a jerk. He thought Anna and I would be stupid enough to fall in line with his plan, which was absolutely FULL of holes,_ Elsa thought. _Let's see how he likes hearing a 'stupid girl' exercise her extensive vocabulary on him._

Luthor said nothing. He hadn't known what the phrase meant but had easily deciphered the meaning from Elsa's sentence.

"You know what else was fallacious in your rationale apropos this venture of yours? You conjectured that neither Anna nor I would have the sagacity to perceive the paramount foible in your machination. That you could not kill either of us without thwarting your own scheme. Your stratagem was indubitably not efficacious," Elsa said, dropping as many odd vocabulary words in her sentences as she could think of. _He was relying on intimidation tactics all the time! Threats he had no intentions of carrying out!_

Luthor glared at Elsa, knowing she was using odd words on purpose.

* * *

><p>"Well, the guards are here," Elsa said as Anna and four guards came into the library a minute later. "Take them away, and be sure they are guarded well," she told the guards, dissolving the ice that stuck the two to the floor. Elsa smiled. She had gotten a revenge of sorts on her enemy without actually hurting anything but Luthor's pride. Perfect. <em>So there.<em> Elsa wasn't a revengeful person in the least ordinarily, but Luthor had gotten under her skin with his assumptions of her and Anna.

Revenge with vocabulary. _Yep, works wonders and I didn't hurt anyone._

**A/N: Ok, so Elsa pulled the logic game on Luthor. I still think superhero situations should make use of that more often...depending on the villain's motivations, it HAS to work. (Now if you've just got some crazy weirdo who doesn't care if his hostages die or not, then it won't work; but if the rescuer has something that the villain needs, he canNOT do anything to either the hostage or the rescuer. Anyway...:P)**

**Elsa got irritated and spouted odd vocabulary at Luthor...don't ask, I just found that terribly amusing...XD**

**Next chapter coming soon!:)**


	33. Chapter 32-Day Thirteen, Part 4

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who's followed/favorited and/or is reading but not reviewing:)**

**bananas-rule-2015-I do love reading my reviews;) Lol, exactly!:) PS I'd love any ideas you have:)**

**Darkshadow767-I'm glad you're enjoying it:) I try to keep a nice balance between the fluff and action...;) That's nice to know-I was _fairly_ certain that the characters are acting like 'themselves', but I wasn't 100% sure about descriptions (like on the entire premise of present-day-but-Arendelle's-basically-stuck-in-the-1800s thing:P) Thanks!:)**

**Alissa-Here is some more;) Glad you're enjoying it!:)**

**On to the story!:) This chapter is really short, but the next one will be much longer. (I just have to fix something in the next chapter so there are no continuity errors between this story and 'Secret Passages':))**

Chapter 31-Day Thirteen, Part 4

Once the guards had taken Luthor and Otis away, Anna asked, "What were you saying to them when I came in? Most of it made oh, about ZERO sense!"

Elsa laughed. "You mean you perceived me utilizing my prodigious lexicon?"

"There you go again! Why are you talking like that?"

"Oh, I just realized that Luthor thought we were stupid, so I got my so-called 'revenge' by tossing a ton of little-used vocabulary words at him. I think it worked, too," Elsa replied in a satisfied tone as she and Anna sat down on the sofa. "You should have seen his face!"

"What do you mean he thought we were stupid?"

"Luthor failed to account for the possibility that we would realize that he couldn't kill either of us without messing up his whole plan. He couldn't kill me-he wanted my help. He couldn't kill you-then I would definitely not help him," Elsa explained.

Anna frowned. "Well, _I_ didn't realize that, although it certainly is true and makes sense."

"You must have! You're the one who made me realize it. When Luthor had me pinned against the wall and you said 'Please don't do anything to Elsa', that's what made everything click. He _couldn't _do anything to either you or me without ruining his own plan."

"Well, I'm glad I helped, even if it wasn't exactly on purpose," Anna said. "By the way, let me see your arm. We need to make sure the splint didn't get shifted out of place or something with all the commotion."

"No, no, it's fine. Really," Elsa scooted away from Anna on the sofa.

"Elsa! Stop it, let me see. That creep was jabbing at it with a gun, for goodness sakes. Your arm won't heal right if it's been moved!"

"Oh, all right. But don't touch it, okay?" Elsa's arm was still aching badly, and she didn't want to bother with it right then.

"I'll be super careful." Anna gently took Elsa's sling off, being sure to support her arm.

Elsa took one glance at her arm and immediately saw that the splint was still in place where it was supposed to be. She promptly pulled her arm away from Anna and held it against her chest. "See, Anna? I told you it was fine! It's just sore."

"Well, we were just making sure. I didn't trust your opinion-you keep saying 'it's fine' even when it's not," Anna said, frowning a bit.

"Weelll…"

"Well nothing! Anyway, will you help me figure something out on the piano?"

"Sure! Just help me get this thing back on first."

Anna helped Elsa get the sling back on; then they both headed over to the piano.

* * *

><p>"So…what is it you wanted my help with?" Elsa asked.<p>

"A song."

"_What_ song?"

Anna played the first few notes she had managed to figure out. "That one."

"I don't recognize that at all…what is it?"

"Come on, Elsa, I know you must have heard it! You know, it goes like this…" Anna began singing,

_'It's a crack, I'm back yeah standing_

_On the rooftops shouting out,_

_Baby I'm ready to go_

_I'm back and ready to go_

_From the rooftops shout it out_

_It's a crack, I'm back yeah standing_

_On the rooftops having it_

_Baby I'm ready to go_

_I'm back and ready to go_

_From the rooftops shout it out, shout it out'_

"That was part of it."

Elsa just stared at Anna. "What. On. Earth. Was. That?!"

"Um…I heard it at Cedar Point, while you were in line for and riding Top Thrill Dragster. You had to have heard it yourself. It played over and over! I thought we could sing it at the festival, if you didn't mind."

"I don't remember any of that at all! And um…that isn't exactly the sort of song I had in mind. Whatever you just sang strikes me as a little…malapropos for the Annual Crocus Festival," Elsa said.

"What is malapropos-whatever-it-was-you-said?"

"Inappropriate."

"Why? It hasn't got any bad words in it."

"Anna, it doesn't even make any _sense_! Like 'It's a crack, I'm back yeah standing'? What is that supposed to mean?" Elsa asked. "It somewhat makes sense in the context of being played around Dragster-you'd better be 'ready to go' if you're going to ride it since you're about to fly at 120 miles an hour! But as a standalone song, uh-uh. No way. Plus, I don't think that's the type of music we should have at the festival, either."

"Oh come on! You said you were going to make a copy of Dragster, so I think we ought to sing the ready to go song. It's catchy!"

"The song isn't ours. We don't even know who sang it originally! Nor do we have the instrumental parts that probably go with it," Elsa protested.

"I know how we can find _those_ things out. Go back to Cedar Point and ask." Anna grinned.

"I refuse to go back to the park and ask about their background music! Besides, how was the song playing anyway? I never saw any performers around Dragster." Elsa sounded a little confused.

"Well…I don't know exactly, but I _think_ the music was coming from these black rectangle box things. It was quite a bit louder right below the things."

"Another modern technology thing, I guess?" Elsa asked.

"Yeah, I guess so. So can we go to Cedar Point and ask about it?"

"I suppose. But I'm not making any promises to sing that goofy song with you!"

"Ok. Let's wait a couple days though till your arm doesn't bother you so much," Anna said.

Elsa didn't argue; her arm _was_ bothering her quite a bit, and she did not particularly want to fly the ice-copter all the way across Lake Erie and back again with Anna right now. "Sounds like a plan."

"Oh, and Elsa, I'm sorry for fussing at you about the blueprints during dinner."

"Don't worry about it. Gerda gave me a good suggestion, though. From now on, we will work on the blueprints in short sittings. Maybe it won't be so boring and tedious for you if we do that," Elsa said.

"That sounds good. Like thirty minutes at a time, maybe?"

"Whatever amount of time that works for you. If we work hard on them during our sessions, I know we can finish them in time."

"Goody, I can hardly wait to see the Arendelle Amusement Park at the festival!"

**A/N: The song Anna was singing is 'Ready to Go' by Republica. To my knowledge, Cedar Point really does (or has) played it around Top Thrill Dragster.:) I thought the idea of Anna (and perhaps Elsa) singing it was hilarious...if you listen to it, you'll most likely see whyXD**

**Next chapter coming soon:)**


	34. Chapter 33-Day Fourteen

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who's followed/favorited and/or is reading but not reviewing:)**

**bananas-rule-2015-Lol, it turns out SAT vocabulary is good for something after all...XD That's where I got all the words from.;) I did check the dictionary to make sure everything was used correctly, though, like adjectives, verbs, etc:P No, no ice-Dragster yet, but Elsa WILL make it eventually. I promise.;) P.S. Yep, I got 'em, and have started on one, but it isn't done yet.:) PPS Yep, that's right!**

**princessdianaofparadiseisland-Uh...Elsa says thanks for agreeing with her? I don't know:P I think the song makes great sense around Dragster, but by itself it's kind of like 'What on earth does THAT mean?!'XD Hmm, I'll keep that in mind...I bet Olaf's head would come off if he rode Dragster, though...:P**

**On to the story!:)**

Chapter 32-Day Fourteen

The next morning after breakfast, Elsa stood at the top of the steps leading down to the castle dungeon. _Come on, Elsa, get it together. You're just going to walk down those steps, speak with Luthor, and come back upstairs. You can do this. No one is going to lock you down there again, and even if they did, you know you can get out now._ Elsa forced herself down one step.

Anna came up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. "Elsa, what are you doing? I thought you were going to say something to the temporary resident dumb butts and come right back."

Elsa jumped and nearly fell down the steps. "Why did you bring me here?" _I couldn't just let them kill you. … But I'm a danger to Arendelle. Get Anna. … Anna has not returned. If you could just stop the winter; bring back summer, please. … Don't you see? I _can't_! You have to tell them to let me go! … I will do what I can. … The door shut and locked, leaving Elsa fearful, angry, and alone._

Anna stared at her, puzzled. "_What?_ Elsa, it's me, Anna!" _Oh, wait a second…Elsa's flashbacking to something. That's what happened. _Anna had seen Elsa do that multiple times, but it still hurt Anna to see her sister 'stuck in the past' and remembering unpleasant things. But Anna knew how to help now, so she grabbed Elsa's shoulders and turned her around so she faced Anna. "Elsa, I didn't bring you down here. You were going to say something to Luthor and come right back, remember?"

Elsa blinked at Anna. _Oh, yeah. Reality check, Elsa. Thanks for reminding me, Anna. _"I remember. I just…"

Anna knew something was wrong. "Elsa, what's the matter? What are you thinking about?"

"It's nothing," Elsa said quickly. "I…I'm…it's…I can't make myself go down there. Not after…" _You're a chicken, Elsa. Scared of your own castle's dungeon._

Anna immediately put the pieces together. _Gerda told me Elsa got locked down here because of that Prince Creep and the Duke of Weaseltown…that's why Elsa doesn't want to go down there._ "Elsa, Gerda told me what happened. That's the past, not the present. You aren't going to get knocked out and come to chained up and locked in a cell down here again." Anna pulled Elsa close, careful not to hurt her arm.

"I know…it's just…this place brings up bad memories. _Really_ bad memories. Anna…I felt helpless. And angry. And frightened. It was horrible." Elsa pulled herself out of Anna's embrace and sat down on the steps, her left hand fiddling with her skirt. She remembered all too well how she felt knowing that Anna was missing somewhere out in Elsa's unintentional storm; while she herself was locked in the dungeon, her hands bound, thinking she was helpless to do anything to either find Anna or calm the storm. _Thank goodness I escaped out of there when I did. Except then Hans found me out on the frozen fjord and said Anna was dead because of me…_

Anna sat down next to Elsa and took Elsa's cold hand in hers, giving it a comforting squeeze. Elsa squeezed back with a grip that was surprisingly strong for a girl her size, and it had nothing to do with her powers.

"Um, Elsa? You can stop that anytime," Anna said, trying to loosen Elsa's intense grasp a little.

"I'm sorry!" Elsa promptly released Anna's hand, and Anna put her arm around Elsa's shoulders instead.

"Would it help if we went down there together?" Anna asked.

_You can do this, Elsa. _"Yes. I can do this. Let's go now, before I lose my nerve." Elsa stood up and marched down the steps with Anna at her side. "Anna, will you stay just out of Luthor's line of sight, please? I'll explain why later."

"Sure."

Elsa went up to the guard standing just outside the cell where Luthor and Otis were. "Open the door, please."

* * *

><p>"Good morning, Elsa. I can't help but admire your knack for fathoming your enemy's logic like that yesterday," Luthor said.<p>

Elsa let the non-queenly title slip. She was more annoyed by Luthor's surprised pseudo-flattery. "Drop the encomium. I am not impressed by your flattery in the least. You don't admire me. You're mad two girls outsmarted your flawed plan." She paused for a moment to clear her mind. _You can do this, Elsa. Don't let him know this place bothers you; he'll use it against you somehow._ _Plus, a queen should not be scared of her own castle's dungeon anyway. It's stupid._ "I am here to ask you a few questions and inform you what will happen."

"Ah, you mean an interrogation?"

"If you would prefer to call it that, I will not object."

"I see. How will you know whether I'm telling you the truth or not?"

"Oh, I will know. You see, your pseudo-flattery wasn't entirely wrong. I have a special…_knack_, as you put it, for catching lies. Very convenient, wouldn't you say?" Elsa did not have a special knack for catching lies per se, but she was good at reading people; and her mind was telling her that Luthor would probably simply dance around any questions she might ask, without technically lying, but not being entirely straightforward, either.

"You would inform your enemy of this skill? Rather stupid, I say."

"Thank you for the compliment," Elsa said without a hint of humor.

"What compliment? Mr. Luthor was insulting you," Otis said.

"I sensed that," Elsa responded. "You know you two are pressing your luck. Most monarchs would have executed you for your crimes and insubordination by now."

"But you won't do that. You're too nice and friendly for that," Luthor said, knowing he was right. "_And_ you're just a young girl. How old are you anyway? Sixteen? Eighteen?" _How did the girl end up becoming queen at her age in the first place?_

_I am so sick of this guy and his snide comments. I'm twenty-one, thank you very much. _"I daresay I will let you continue guessing my age if you like. However, I will tell you that both your guesses are wrong. And as far as me being 'too nice and friendly'…perhaps, but don't push me. What you threatened to do to my sister and me, and your reasons for attempting it in the first place, are unforgivable. It was regicide. It is of little gravity to me that you did not intend to carry out your threats." Elsa paused to let that sink in, then deftly steered the conversation to the questions she wanted to ask. "Why exactly do you want to kill Superman anyway?" _Don't ask him 'yes' or 'no' questions; those are easy to lie about._

Luthor stared at her in surprise. That question was certainly out of left field. "I prefer to call it _elimination_," he said evasively.

_I hate euphemisms. Say it like it is or don't say it at all. _"Don't be euphemistic. Killing someone is killing someone; no matter what nice-sounding appellation you give it. You did not answer my question, though," Elsa replied.

"Ms. Teschmacher likes Superman, so he needs to go."

Elsa narrowed her eyes at Luthor. _Liar. _"That is not why you want to kill Superman."

"The human lie detector strikes."

"You admit that was a lie, then, or at least definitely not the main reason of your actions. What is a lie detector?" Elsa couldn't resist asking; she was curious.

Luthor grinned. _Finally something that infuriating girl doesn't know!_ "A lie detector is an instrument for determining whether a person is telling the truth by testing for physiological changes considered to be associated with lying."

"Thank you for answering completely the one question that was not of much significance," Elsa deadpanned. "Now my original question, if you please?"

"Revenge. Does that satisfy you? Superman hinders my plans for the future."

Elsa thought for a moment. _All right, that was a truthful answer, I believe._ "Well, I will be the one hindering your 'plans for the future' this time. As soon as I arrange it, you will be flying to Washington, D.C. to be tried for your involvement in the crisis with the Kryptonian criminals."

"How are you going to arrange that? Arendelle does not possess an airport."

"No, my kingdom does not possess an airport, but we do have one very special flying machine." Elsa smiled.

"You mean that…that _thing_ you made out of ice?" Luthor blanched at the thought of taking to the skies in the ice-copter.

Elsa's smile disappeared. Luthor's tone reminded her of a certain someone-the Duke of Weselton. _All right, Elsa. This is not the coronation. You're in control now. You're fine. Keep your cool._ Elsa realized the irony of her last thought and shook her head. _All right, you little comedienne, answer the guy. Now._ "Precisely. Don't tell me you think my ice-copter is unsafe. I assure you the construction is sound. Now I have another question for you-where are your other accomplices?" She was originally going to ask, '_do_ you have any other accomplices' but thought better of it and reworded her question.

"Other accomplices? There are no other accomplices," Luthor blurted.

_Good question wording, Elsa, _Elsa thought, pleased. "If I had agreed to assist you, where would you have taken me?"

"My secret hideout, and don't try to get any more details than that, because you won't get them," Luthor replied.

Elsa thought for a moment before asking, "Which side of the United States is your hideout on?"

"East."

_Maybe it's in Metropolis, and that's how he ended up tangling with Superman? Let's see…how to get him to admit what and where the hideout is…oh, I know!_ "So, where in Metropolis is the high-rise building you have your hideout in?" Elsa had seen skyscrapers from the air on the way to the Fortress of Solitude to depower the Kryptonians.

"What?! My hideout isn't in a skyscraper in Metropolis! It's in Metrop-" Luthor caught himself a second too late.

"Thank you, Mr. Luthor," Elsa said. _So my hunch was right. It's in Metropolis, and evidently not in a high-rise building/skyscraper/whatever you want to call it. I should tell that to the U.S. police…_

Luthor seethed. He hadn't intended to share that information. _She's going to end up telling the U.S. police that information. _"Don't tell anyone I told you that."

"We will see."

"And do you intend to make off with my hot air balloon and guns? I certainly would like them back."

"Mr. Luthor, you are in no position to be making demands like that. Do you really think I would be foolish enough to give you and Otis your guns right now? In any event, I will be handing the hot air balloon and the guns over to the police when I turn you in. If the U.S. police wishes to return your property at that time, that is their prerogative," Elsa replied.

"What would you do if I said I had another gun?" Luthor asked.

Elsa was immediately on her guard. _He must have a weapon hidden on him or Otis. _"Considering that you just said it, I would say and am saying hand it over right now." Elsa held up her left hand, ready to defend herself if need be.

"Good grief, I was just making a what-if comment. Nothing to worry about," Luthor said nonchalantly. He turned away from Elsa slowly; making her think all the more that something was amiss. In one swift motion, Luthor whipped back around, pistol in hand, and shot directly at Elsa.

Elsa ducked just in time and sent a reflex ice blast in Luthor's general direction. Luthor's bullet lodged in the wall right behind where Elsa had been standing a moment before. Elsa's ice blast missed Luthor's pistol, but startled him enough that the guard easily stepped in and took the gun away. "I apologize for stepping in without authorization, my queen, but I thought there was just cause."

"There certainly was just cause," Elsa said sternly. "Thank you, sir." She turned back to Luthor. "Just what did you hope to accomplish by doing that? Even if you had shot me, you and Otis would have been caught long before escaping the castle."

Luthor did not intend to tell Elsa that it had been an impulsive action of revenge, and not much else.

Otis jumped in, "Probably revenge! Mr. Luthor is very angry with you, Queen Elsa. You keep messing up our plans. Right, Mr. Luthor?"

"Shut up."

_Yes, that's it. Luthor has me on his death list for revenge, along with Superman, probably Anna, and who knows whom else. The man won't be telling me anything else, either, not after I got him to admit his hideout is in Metropolis. _Elsa turned to the guard. "Please lock the door. I am finished here." Then she strode away in search of Anna.

* * *

><p><em>Anna was supposed to wait for me. Where is she?<em> Elsa reluctantly made herself peek inside the open doors of each cell. "Oh, there you are, Anna!" she finally said. "What are you doing in here?" Elsa's eyes went wide when she realized exactly which cell this was. The walls had been repaired, but Elsa still easily recognized the place. _Yeah, what ARE you doing in here, Anna?_ "Anna, I…I…I'm going upstairs, all right? Just come up when you're ready." She turned to hightail it out of there as fast as possible.

"No, Elsa, wait a minute," Anna said, catching Elsa by the shoulder. "Come here. I need to ask you something."

Elsa closed her eyes and turned back to Anna. "What is it?"

"Elsa, please? It's important. I gotta ask you something."

"Anna, you know I don't want to be down here. I want to go upstairs now!" Elsa said, eyes still closed. "Can't you ask me upstairs?"

"No, I have to _show_ you something. It's really bugging me," Anna said.

"Well…all right, but hurry up. I hate it down here." Elsa opened her eyes and looked at Anna. _Come on, Elsa, it's just a room. A stupid lousy stone room. There's nothing to be scared of._

"It's this." Anna pulled Elsa into the room and pointed at the shackles lying on the floor. "Look at those."

Elsa shuddered. _Stay in the present, Elsa. You aren't stuck down here again. _"Anna, I see them. This is really making me upset. May I _please_ go back upstairs now?"

"Just a second, Elsa." Anna pulled her out of that cell and into the one next to it. "Now look at those."

Elsa looked. And stared. Then she looked some more. "Are you seeing the same thing I'm seeing? Two different kinds of shackles?"

"Elsa, _all_ the empty cells besides the one have this kind, that only goes around the wrists. Is the one with the other kind the same one Prince Creep and them put you in? And the one that-"

"Don't finish that, Anna…please…What do you think?" Elsa asked bitterly. "They all must have thought those shackles would contain my powers. And they did when I was younger. Look, Anna, I can't stay down here any longer. I have to go." Elsa turned and ran back down the corridor and up the steps, all the way back up to her room, leaving a trail of ice in her wake. _That was not something I wanted to see or find out._ Elsa threw herself flat on the bed; then sat up a moment later holding her arm as she whimpered in pain from tossing all her weight on it. _Why did Anna have to show me that? I'd have rather not known at all. How come only _one_ cell's shackles were made like that? Was that room made specifically for me or something in case I ever went out of control? It's evidently the same one I was locked in during that hurricane when I was seventeen...and when I was eighteen when that tornado came. And why do people like Hans and the Kryptonians and Luthor act the way they do? At least Hans had some legitimate reasons to lock me up…but Luthor, it's just…I don't get it. All I did was prevent him from carrying out his plan to kill someone. I know I did the right thing, and he tried to shoot me for it._

* * *

><p>Anna knocked on Elsa's door using her signature knock. "Elsa, may I come in please? I'm sorry…"<p>

"The door is unlocked," Elsa said. She squeezed her eyes shut as she remembered the hundreds of times she'd said that exact line in years past to let either her parents or Gerda in. _Quit it, Elsa. What is your problem today? First you can't handle being downstairs in the dungeon and now you can't invite Anna into your room without thinking of something stupid._

Anna came in and sat down on the bed next to Elsa, who promptly scooted away from her. _Elsa must be really upset…she left ice all the way up here and now it's freezing in here, too. Maybe I shouldn't have shown her what I found downstairs…_ "Elsa, can I help somehow? I'm really, really sorry I made you so upset."

"You have nothing, absolutely _nothing_ to be sorry for," Elsa said fiercely. "And I don't know if you can help, but you can try."

"Well…can you tell me what exactly is bothering you? Hey, Elsa, is your arm all right? You weren't holding it like that earlier," Anna said, noticing that Elsa was holding on to her broken arm with her left hand.

"It's fine. I just did something stupid…I flopped right on top of it before you came in, and it really hurt." Elsa looked around the room, finally realizing the cold temperature and the ice on the floor. "I completely lost it…again." She returned the temperature to normal and dissolved the ice on the floor. "Anna, did I leave ice all the way downstairs?"

"Kind of…there's an icy trail, if that counts…" Anna said warily, not wanting to set Elsa off again.

_You totally lost control this time. _Elsa frowned. "I have to go fix the mess I made," she said, starting to get up to leave the room.

Anna sat her back down. "No, Elsa, it can wait. It's not hurting anything. We're going to talk first. Oh, and one more thing." Anna took Elsa's sling off, propped Elsa's arm up with pillows, and told Elsa to lean back and relax. "Now put some ice on your arm. I think it'll help, at least a little."

Elsa blinked in confusion at Anna from her half laying down, half sitting position. "Anna, you know cold doesn't affect me…"

"Yeah, I know, but you've said you can 'feel' cold temperatures even though it doesn't affect you. And I remember several days ago when you let me start that fire in here that you got too hot and then cooled yourself off with snow. Just do it, ok? If my hunch is wrong, it's not like it'll hurt anything," Anna said.

"All right. I guess the worst that can happen is nothing." Elsa carefully put ice on her injured arm. A minute later, she smiled. _Anna was right!_ It didn't take away the pain completely or numb Elsa's arm at all, but the pleasantly cool sensation of the ice was soothing. 'Pleasantly cool' was the extent of Elsa's feeling of 'cold'. After all, cold was _her_ element…figuratively, since water in any form was not an element. "Thank you, Anna. You're right; it really does help!"

"Awesome! I thought it would!" Anna paused, then asked, "Elsa…do you still want to talk? You seem happier now…"

Elsa thought for a moment before saying, "No, I don't _want_ to talk, but I think we _should_. You weren't finished asking me about…things downstairs when I ran off. And to be honest, I have some questions and things to talk about too. Like, why were you in that cell in the first place?"

"Well, I decided to explore the dungeon 'cause I got tired of waiting for you to finish talking with Luthor and Otis and I'd never been down there before, aside from when, well, you know. Except now I'm kinda sorry I did," Anna said. "That place is creepy!"

"Me too. I did _not_ need to find out that the shackles in the cell I was locked in were different from all the others. It's odd…I've known about the one cell for forever, but I had never seen inside any of the others. I thought those shackles were normal, but they're evidently not. Anna…do you think that cell was made specifically for…for me? In case I ever got too out…out of control?" Elsa's voice faltered at her questions.

Anna frowned. She had been thinking the same thing, but was more concerned about something else Elsa had said. "What do you mean you've known about that particular cell for forever? How long is 'forever'? I had never even been down there until today, excepting that one time..."

"Since I was three or so, maybe? I remember going down there to explore-and no, before you ask, I wasn't supposed to do that."

Anna giggled at the thought of a three-year-old Elsa exploring somewhere she wasn't supposed to. "I bet you were a cute toddler! Were you naughty _all_ the time?"

Elsa continued without acknowledging that. "Anyway, I went down there and decided to peek in a cell that I chose at random. Guess which one I picked. After peeking in that one, I was going to look in all the others, but I got caught before I could do that. So I guess you could say my impression of what a dungeon cell is supposed to look like is that of a three-year-old's, which is rather disgraceful. Twenty-one years old and I still didn't know what a normal pair of shackles is supposed to look like…" Elsa rolled her eyes in disgust with herself. "That still doesn't explain why they were there in the first place though. What do you think, Anna? And don't make up some crazy story just to keep from hurting my feelings."

"Well…" Anna didn't know what to say; she wasn't even sure what she herself thought. _There was that whole thing during that hurricane…And the waterspout-slash-tornado thing..._

Elsa took Anna's hesitancy to mean that the whole thing _had_ been specially made for her. "You think it was for me, don't you?"

"Honestly, Elsa, I don't know! You said you were _three_ when you found it. Who would make a special cell for a three-year-old? It's just weird! And-"

"Our parents, maybe," Elsa interrupted quietly. "Look, Anna, I know they never really 'approved' of me, and I accept that. It's just…if they really _made_ that place for their own kid, it…creeps me out."

"Did the place look old when you saw it when you were little?" Anna asked.

"I don't know. I was three, for goodness sakes. Oh, and I remember you were around. You were a little tiny newborn baby. I got upset because I wasn't allowed to hold you." _Looking back now, I wonder if I wasn't allowed to hold baby Anna more because of my powers than because I was 'too little'…_

Anna thought for a moment. _If I was around then…what if our parents really did make that cell for Elsa? It fits with the rotten way they treated her after the accident with me. But then if they _did_ make it, why didn't they use it more aside from those two times years later? A serious accident would have been the perfect excuse… And I kinda think our parents did care about Elsa a little; but they didn't like her powers and didn't care about her nearly _enough_. Something's not adding up here._ "Elsa, I don't know what to think. It does make sense that our parents might have made it for you, no matter how creepy it is. I mean, there's no reason to restrain a prisoner's hands like that under 'normal' conditions…but it does make sense if you're trying to contain someone's ice powers. The thing is, you saw the place when you were _three_. Five years later, you accidentally conked me in the head with your powers. That would have been the perfect excuse to put that cell to use. Therefore, I don't think that 'special cell' was made specifically for you. It's possible but very, very unlikely," Anna finished. _Wait a second…I heard Dad talking to Elsa about the dungeon once! I fussed at him about it, but I didn't get anywhere about it. I bet that 'special cell' is the same one…it has to be; it looks identical to what I saw that one time...I really, really hope they didn't make that place for Elsa… _Anna didn't dare tell Elsa what she remembered hearing, but the prospect was still more than a little disturbing.

Elsa mulled over Anna's logic for a minute. _Well, I guess that makes sense. It's still really odd, though. _An idea popped into her head. "I have a theory. What if there was someone long time ago with powers like mine? The castle is old, so I think that's possible. If that's true, it is weird that we've never heard anything about it, though. I thought I was the only one with ice powers, but maybe it runs in our family. Like a recessive gene or something, I don't know."

"Hey, yeah! And maybe we never heard about it because whoever had it in the past never learned how to control it, so our parents never told us because they didn't want us to know," Anna said.

"Well, if I have to choose between the cell being made specifically for me and the cell being made ages ago for someone else with ice powers, I'll pick the latter. I don't think we'll ever know for sure, but until I have solid proof otherwise, I know what I'll be thinking," Elsa replied with a small smile.

"Ditto."

* * *

><p>There was a long pause, then Elsa said, "Anna, may I ask you something?"<p>

"Sure."

"Why do you think people like Luthor act the way they do? He wants to kill Superman; he tried to pull that lowdown trick on us; and he tried to shoot me downstairs," Elsa said.

"He tried WHAT?! If that stupid creep tried to shoot you, I'm going to…I'm going to…I'm going to go back down there and punch him out good! He could have _killed_ you, Elsa!" Anna was hopping mad. "That no good, low-life, jerk, ratfink, creep, dummy…he was trying to take advantage of you 'cause you're injured! He knows you could freeze his and Odiferous Otis's dumb butts simultaneously in a second otherwise! I'm going to go down there and wallop him till he begs for me to stop!"

"Good grief, Anna, calm down. You are not going down there to punch the guy, no matter how much he deserves it. I'm here and I'm perfectly fine. And I think he knows that I won't turn him into a popsicle anyway. Plus, I think it was partly my fault he tried that. I was asking him questions and he told me something he didn't mean to share because of the way I worded the question," Elsa said.

"I WILL NOT CALM DOWN! THAT IDIOT TRIED TO SHOOT MY SISTER!" Anna shouted. "All right, all right, I won't go down there and punch him. But Elsa, it's certainly not your fault he tried that. He was _supposed_ to answer your questions. What things did you ask him anyway?"

"Let's see…why he wanted to kill Superman. The reason was revenge and the fact that Superman was hindering his plans for the future. I asked where his other accomplices were-he said there were no other accomplices. I asked if I had assisted him where would he have taken me-he said his secret hideout and that he wouldn't tell me anything else about it. I thought the location of his hideout would be a useful piece of information, so I asked, 'Where in Metropolis is the high-rise building you have your hideout in?' He blurted out that it wasn't in a…what did he call a high-rise building? Oh, I remember, a skyscraper; and then he started 'It's in Metrop-' before catching himself. That was when he became so mad and tried to shoot me; I guess because I had gotten him to say more than he planned to," Elsa said. "Oh, I forgot to add…he also thought I was only sixteen or eighteen! He said, 'How old are you anyway? Sixteen? Eighteen?' I'm twenty-one, thank you very much!"

Anna couldn't resist giggling at Elsa's put out expression. "Well, you _do_ look younger than your age sometimes, Elsa…And it sounds like you're a good questioner," she added. "Also, I think it's useless to try to figure out why people like that act the way they do. They're just not worth it."

"But Anna, he's trying to _kill_ people, just because they're hindering his plans, which are criminal plans in the first place! And don't you think that people can learn to change for the better, at least most of the time? I do." Elsa paused for a moment before adding, "Anna, are you telling me the queen of Arendelle looks like a little girl half the time?! Even if I look all of twenty-one, I'm still practically a kid by ruler standards…"

"Well, yeah, but I think Luthor is part of the minority that can't. So just forget him and stay away." Anna didn't answer Elsa's comments about her age because, quite honestly, Anna thought Elsa _did_ look younger than her age most of the time.

"You and I are taking Luthor and Otis to Washington, D.C. to turn them in to the United States police, though," Elsa said. "That is something I want to do as soon as possible. I want those two out of Arendelle."

"In the ice-copter?"

"Ice bubbles below the ice-copter like we did with the Kryptonians."

"Sounds like a good plan. Just one little question though, Elsa…how are we going to fly to Washington, D.C. without knowing exactly where it is?" Anna asked.

"We do have a rough map of its location. We'll have to stop along the way and get more precise directions, I suppose. That doesn't lend well to our image in the U.S. as the Arendelle royals, but it's the best thing I can think of," Elsa replied.

"Ok…can we pretty please stop at Cedar Point on the way back and get the information about the ready to go song?"

"Yes. There's one more important thing we both need to keep in mind from now on. Anna, we have made a serious enemy of Luthor. We know he has no other accomplices here in Arendelle, but that may not be true in the U.S. We have to be careful. Also, now that he's realized that neither you nor I are 'dumb girls' he can easily convince to help him with his nefarious schemes, he will be willing to kill us if given the chance. I definitely am, and you probably are, on his death list for revenge. Just…watch out, is all I'm saying," Elsa said.

"But we're just going to turn them in to the police, right?"

"Yes, but I don't know how the United States' police and government work, so I don't know what Luthor will be charged with or how long he will be in jail," Elsa said. "Just be careful, and you're taking a pistol of your own with you on the ice-copter so you can defend yourself if need be should we become separated somehow. Do you know how to shoot one?"

"Yeah, but my aim isn't all that great. Maybe you should take one too. Do _you_ know how?"

"Yes, but I only have one usable hand at the moment, so I'm going to stick with my built-in defenses. My ice is far more accurate and precise than my prowess as a sharpshooter." Elsa grinned. "Especially since the first time I ever shot a gun in my life was about a month ago, after you helped me figure out how to thaw everything. I thought it would be a useful skill to know how to do. What do you say we have a target shooting contest in the courtyard later this afternoon?"

"That sounds great!"

"And now, let's work on those ride design blueprints for thirty minutes before we head down to lunch."

"Sounds good-I can handle thirty minutes!"

* * *

><p>After lunch, Elsa asked Kai to set up two targets in the courtyard. "Anna and I want to do some shooting practice," she explained.<p>

"Shooting _contest_," Anna corrected.

Kai was surprised at Elsa's request, but did as he was asked.

"Thank you, Kai," Elsa said when she and Anna came out into the courtyard a few minutes later.

"My pleasure. Would you object to an observer?"

"No, of course not. I don't think there will be much to watch though," Elsa said. She quickly iced over the inside side of the castle wall so it wouldn't be damaged by any stray shots. "Anna, did you get a gun out of the armory?"

"Oops. No, I'll be right back." Anna ran off and returned with two pistols and a pouch of cartridges.

"What did you bring two for? I'm not using one of those; I'm using my ice, thank you very much," Elsa said.

"Puh-lease, Elsa? I can't shoot ice at the targets. That's no fair! You'll win in about two seconds that way!" Anna complained.

"And _you'll_ win in about two seconds if I don't. My dominant arm is out of commission, remember? I think it would be useless to try shooting a pistol with my left hand…I'm sticking with my ice."

"Can't you just try? Maybe it'd work better than you think. You can write with your left hand some, so why not shooting?"

"Oh, all right, fine. You're going to have to load it, though," Elsa replied.

"Deal. This one's already loaded, so take this one." Anna handed one of the pistols to Elsa.

"Nice, you brought revolvers," Elsa said. "At least I won't be making you reload it every time." She carefully aimed at her target's bull's-eye at the other end of the courtyard. Elsa's hand shook at the last moment and the shot went wide, not landing anywhere near the target. _Good grief, that was the worst shot ever. You should be able to do better than that… _"_That_ is why I didn't want to do this. Your turn, Anna."

Anna's shot hit the edge of her target and bounced off. "Well, that was pretty bad too, but I say I win that round!"

"Mmhmm…that would be rather obvious," Elsa said, trying to hide her irritation. "I'll try once more, but I'm switching to ice after that. My shot was so bad it wasn't even funny." Elsa carefully aimed at the bull's-eye once again. This time her shot hit the outermost ring on the target and lodged there. _Well, at least I hit it this time._

"That was lots better!" Anna said. "My turn." Anna's shot hit her target near the same place Elsa's had.

"Tie," Elsa said happily.

"Nah, I think mine's a little closer to the bull's-eye. Don't you think so, Kai?"

Kai walked over to the targets and looked at them. "I do think Anna's bullet is a bit closer to the bull's-eye. Certainly not by much, though." He noticed Elsa's usually straight shoulders droop slightly and added, "Don't beat yourself up, Miss Elsa. You aren't even shooting with the hand you normally would. Many people can't shoot with their non-dominant hand at all. Believe me, that was a pretty good shot, all things considering."

"Well, I'm still switching to ice. Maybe I'll try the normal way of shooting again later, after I've done it my own anomalous way for a while."

Anna frowned at Elsa's less-than-complimentary term about her powers. "I thought we were past that, Elsa. 'Unique', not 'anomalous'. Boy, I wish I had powers like yours!"

"No you don't. And I guess I'm still so used to thinking of myself that way it just slipped out," Elsa said so quietly only Anna could hear. _Anna wishes she had powers like mine? She must be out of her mind…she knows how much trouble they've caused. I guess she likes the 'able to make cool things' and having built-in defenses and cooling mechanisms portions of it. I guess it IS a pretty awesome thing to have, as long as you're able to control it._ Elsa smiled as she realized she'd actually told herself that she actually _liked_ her powers for what was probably the first time since she was eight. _The North Mountain doesn't count. That certainly was a step in the right direction, but running off to live alone in an ice palace wasn't the right decision, no matter how amazing it felt to make that. I may always have trouble keeping my powers in check when I'm upset, but that's all right. I can deal with that with Anna's help. But no more name-calling; no more thinking of myself as 'defective' or 'abnormal'; no more hating myself…like my own words said, 'let it go'. I'm Elsa, Queen of Arendelle; I'm _me_; and just plain _me_ has ice powers. Like Anna told me, they're part of what makes me _me_, and nothing can change that. Thanks, Anna._ She hadn't really meant to insult herself, but old habits die hard. "All right, I'm going to take my turn now," she said in a louder voice. Elsa handed her revolver to Anna and turned back to her target. A moment later, an icicle sharp as an arrow flew out of Elsa's hand, zinged through the air and embedded itself smack-dab in the center of the bull's-eye. "How's that for a crack shot?" Elsa asked with a happy smile.

"Lucky shot," Anna groused. "Just how am I supposed to beat that?"

"With a 'lucky shot' of your own!" Elsa replied. "Besides, you're still winning by one point."

"I won't be after you take your next turn. Hey, let's just end the contest now! We can just, uh, call it a tie!"

"Okay, fine. I want to shoot some more just for fun though." Elsa sent a rapid-fire volley of icicles at the target that left a perfect circle lining the edge of the smallest ring around the bull's-eye.

"Show-off," Anna teased, but she was secretly happy Elsa was doing that. "Now you can watch my special ability to make holes in the target anywhere except the bull's-eye!" True to her word, Anna's shots all hit the target…and none hit the bull's-eye.

Elsa laughed. "Anna, one of your shots was very close to the bull's-eye. Try again!"

"Sure, but it's your turn now! What are you going to do this time?"

Elsa thought for a moment before sending an icicle flying toward the target that hit the bull's-eye once again, cracking the previous icicle there in two. _Wow, it actually worked!_ Elsa thought.

"Ok, so, um, that was really awesome. How did you _do_ that?" Anna asked in surprise.

"I can see no one need worry about you being able to defend yourself in case of emergency, Miss Elsa," Kai commented. "What you just did is extraordinarily difficult even for the best marksmen around."

Elsa frowned. "One slight difference, Kai. If I shot one of those icicles at a person, they'd be dead or at least seriously injured. I don't know if I'd be able to do that, knowing exactly what the result would be."

Anna saw Elsa's expression and promptly changed the subject. "Hey, let's go inside and get a snack. Like maybe some chocolate or ice cream!"

"Except in your case, you'll probably get a double case of chocolate-chocolate ice cream _and_ actual chocolate," Elsa teased. "Let's go."

**A/N: Next chapter coming soon:)**


	35. Chapter 34-Day Fifteen

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who's followed/favorited and/or is reading but not reviewing:)**

**princessdianaofparadiseisland-Hmm, I'm not sure if Elsa splitting her own icicle-arrow in two with another shot was from Brave or not.:P Probably a subconscious thing, to be honest;):P**

**On to the story!:)**

Chapter 33-Day Fifteen

"There is one complication regarding flying Luthor and Otis to Washington, D.C.," Elsa said the next morning at breakfast. "My ice-copter is only made to hold two people comfortably, three if you don't mind a tight fit."

"So what?" Anna asked.

"So we have to take an escort and have security measures in place, and there's no room for any guards/escorts in the ice-copter."

"Um…maybe just make it bigger or something? Add extra seats in it?" Anna suggested.

"That won't work. The whole machine will be off-balance. I could just make a new ice-copter with more room though by simply making the scale larger. We would have to take it on a test run first though," Elsa said. _Yes, that's _exactly_ what we'll do. The original, mini ice-copter will be Anna's and my private one for entertainment purposes. The new, large ice-copter will be for business/political travel purposes._ "Yes, I've decided that is what we will do. You can help me test NL-1-C after breakfast, all right?"

"Test what? What is an NL-1-C?"

"New Large Ice-insert number 1 Copter. And the original one will be OM-1-C; standing for Original Mini Ice-insert number 1 Copter," Elsa replied.

Anna laughed. "That's great! NL-1-C and OM-1-C; those are great acronyms."

"You can make up secret nicknames for them if you want. Like actual real names," Elsa offered.

"Awesome! I'll have to think."

* * *

><p>After breakfast, Elsa headed back upstairs to her room with Anna trailing behind her. "Elsa, I thought you were gonna make a bigger ice-copter!"<p>

"I am. I need to check the blueprints I made for the original one first so I can make the dimensions larger accurately, that's all," Elsa explained.

"Does that mean I have to draw more blueprint drawing stuff?" Anna asked as she and Elsa walked into Elsa's room.

Elsa began going through the papers in one of her desk drawers. "No, Anna. I can do the calculations myself. The diagram will still be accurate; only the numbers will change. Okay, this is definitely the wrong drawer. These are all government and political documents." She shut the drawer she'd been looking through, opened another, and promptly slammed it shut. "Wrong one again." _This is the present, not the past, Elsa. Anna is standing right there. Not on the other side of a locked door._

"What's in that drawer?" Anna asked curiously.

"Things you stuffed under my door when we were younger," Elsa answered honestly. "And I do _not_ want to talk about it, all right?"

"Can I look, though?"

"It's 'may I', not 'can I'," Elsa said automatically as she opened another drawer. "And yes, you may. But don't talk to me about it, please." She began looking in the drawer she had just opened. "Well, this one does have blueprints in it…here it is!" Elsa pulled out the drawings she'd been looking for and laid them out on the desk. _Okay, let's enlarge the original dimensions 300 percent. That should make the inside have enough space to move around._ She carefully added the new figures to the diagram. Numbers were easy enough for her to write with her left hand. _Just a few more…hmm, what improvements can I add?_

Anna, meanwhile, knelt on the floor looking at the contents of that drawer Elsa didn't want to talk about. _Elsa kept all this stuff? _A scribbly picture Anna couldn't make out that was very sloppily signed 'Lov Anna age 5'. _I must have drawn that shortly after the accident… _A drawing with two stick figures meant to be the two of them holding a sign that said 'Sisters Foever', signed 'Love Anna age 6'. A dried flower taped to a sheet of paper that said 'Dear Elsa, you never go outside anymore but I thogt you'd like a flower. Love Anna age 7.'. And letters, lots and lots of letters. One in particular caught Anna's eye, from when she was thirteen-wait, no, she was still twelve at this point that year-and Elsa was sixteen. _'Dear Elsa, I'm so, so, so sorry I ratted on you the other day. You know I've seen you outside at the edge of the forest before, but I didn't say a word 'cause I could tell you actually looked happy. But I HAD to say something this time before you got hurt or something….'_ Anna looked up at Elsa working at her desk, thinking back exactly what had happened. Anna had been looking out a window overlooking the forest. She'd seen Elsa happily strolling about outside, tossing stones in the creek. Then Anna had seen a suspicious-looking stranger come out of the trees and tap her sister on the shoulder. And Anna had run away from the window screaming for someone to go help her sister. Their dad and a few guards had gone after Elsa and brought her safely back inside. Anna went back to the letter. _'…I hope you're not mad at me. I know I got you in humongous trouble, but I was so worried something was gonna happen to you. I love you. Your very sorry sister, Anna.'_ "Hey, Elsa? May I ask just two things about the stuff in here?"

Elsa turned from her work and looked at Anna. "I said I didn't want to talk about it…But I guess so. What is it?"

"Number one, why did you keep all this stuff? And number two, what did that creepy guy outside want with you and what exactly happened? This letter is something I wrote after I ratted you out for being outside," Anna said.

"I kept all that stuff because it was from you! You were my only source of sunshine a-and…happiness for all that time, especially a-after I…realized our parents w-were…scared of m-me," Elsa stammered out. _I don't think I would have survived if Anna had given up on me…Elsa, get it together. That's not going to happen again._

Anna immediately went over to Elsa and hugged her close when she noticed the snowflakes falling around Elsa and the way Elsa had scrunched her eyes shut to keep from crying. _Should I say anything to Elsa to try to make her feel better? Mmm…no, I shouldn't. She doesn't want to talk right now. Oh, Elsa, I wish I could have really, truly been there for you instead of just pushing notes under the door…_ Anna smiled happily when the snowflakes disappeared and Elsa put her good arm around Anna's shoulders. _Good. Elsa must not be upset anymore._

Elsa thought for a moment, easily remembering that day Anna was referring to. It was the last time she had snuck outside to the forest through the secret passages. "I don't know what that man wanted exactly, but I think he wanted to kidnap me for ransom purposes. He didn't know I was the princess. Our dad didn't tell him either because of what happened. You must have left that window, or you would have seen everything too. I was scared and not thinking, so I shoved the guy away from me into the creek. He grabbed my hand and my glove came off when I jerked away…and I accidentally froze the creek with him still in it. Dad-I mean father was not happy to say the least."

"Hmph. I wish I'd stayed at the window so I could have seen your powers and actually _known_," Anna said.

Elsa did not wish to discuss this topic any longer, so she changed the subject by saying, "I'm almost done. Then I'll make the NL-1-C and we can take it for a test flight."

Anna got Elsa's ill-concealed 'I don't want to talk about this' message, so she answered, "Ok! Sounds good!"

* * *

><p>Thirty minutes later, Elsa and Anna headed down to the fjord. "Elsa, I thought you said you didn't want to freeze the fjord again. Why are we down here?" Anna asked.<p>

"I don't think the new ice-copter will fit very well in the courtyard. So I'm making it down here," Elsa said as she consulted her drawing to make sure everything was right. "Don't worry, I'm not freezing the fjord. The NL-1-C will be able to float on the water. And it won't float away because I'm going to fasten it to the dock. Here, hold the blueprint drawing, please."

Anna took the drawing from Elsa and watched in fascination as the machine pictured on the drawing began to materialize in front of her and Elsa. "Elsa, that looks so cool! Are you using fjord water to make it or just your own self?"

"Shush. Don't distract me," Elsa said, concentrating intently on what she was doing. Usually Elsa would use both hands to make something this complicated; but since she couldn't do that, she was using only her left hand and it made constructing the ice-copter much more difficult. Everything had to stay perfectly balanced from the bottom up, or one tiny dimension could be thrown off and distort the entire machine. _Come on, Elsa, you can do this. Almost there…you only have to do the rotors at the top now and that's it. _Elsa smiled when her finished construction floated on the fjord. "There. All done. Now what was it you were saying, Anna?"

"I just said that it looked super cool, and I wanted to know if you used fjord water to make that or just your own self," Anna said.

Elsa made a face. "My own self, thank you very much. The fjord water is kind of dirty. Besides, if I froze the fjord water to make it, the construction would not be as sound. There would be little imperfections within the ice, weakening the structure. I've noticed that any ice I make myself can be perfectly clear, without any little air bubbles or cracks within it. When I freeze water that already exists, it looks closer to ice that forms naturally, albeit not exactly the same." Elsa noticed Anna's confused expression and added, "Never mind. I don't know how to explain it. Shall we take the NL-1-C for a test flight?"

"Yeah! Let's go! Just one little question…does this one steer the same as the original?"

"Yes. I made it that way on purpose. I made several changes, but that isn't one of them." Elsa grinned and strode over to the NL-1-C. "Wait a moment, I want to show you a few things." She reached for the door to the cockpit. "And…. voila! There are now two complete sets of controls. Now we won't be cramped when we're both trying to steer. Yet if either you or I want to take care of _all_ the controls, we can do it alone as well." Elsa climbed into the cockpit and waited for Anna to join her.

Anna climbed in and said, "This is even awesomer than the other one, and I thought the other one was great!"

"Anna, 'awesomer' is not a word."

"Grammar pest," Anna huffed. "Who cares? _May I_ see the rest of the inside part?"

"Sure." Elsa opened the door between the two seats in the cockpit, revealing the passenger area beyond. "We can carry six passengers comfortably, plus the two of us at the controls. Also there is a door to the outside here" she opened the door in the side of the passenger area "and this fuel tank holds much more fuel than the other one does." Elsa giggled and added, "By the way, I used some frozen fjord water to fill the tank…because I didn't want to lug gallons and gallons of water from the castle out here."

Anna thought that over for a moment. "Hey, Elsa, I just thought of something. You can freeze natural water, right?"

"Yes…"

"And revert it back to water?"

"Yes…"

"You can make ice and snow yourself, too. And that you can dissolve into nothing, right?"

Elsa was getting confused with Anna's line of questioning. "Yes, Anna, you know I can do that. What are you getting at?"

"Well, I was just wondering…can you make ice your own self and turn it into water instead of dissolving it into nothing like it never existed? Or just make water? I was just thinking, I've never seen you do that. If something you froze turns into water, it's either because it melted or it was originally water in the first place," Anna said as she and Elsa settled themselves in the cockpit as pilot and copilot.

"You know what, Anna, I have no idea, but I highly doubt it. I don't control water; I control ice and snow…all things cold." _That certainly would be something new if I can; I've never really thought about it, _Elsa thought.

"Ice IS frozen water, after all. You should try it anyway. Like now, hint hint," Anna replied. "I want to see if you can do it!"

"Not in the NL-1-C I'm not. I don't know what will happen if I try that. I don't want to risk ruining the ice-copter. Let's go ahead with the test flight now. Maybe I'll try making water later," Elsa said.

"Can't you do it now? Please? I just want to see if you can. I promise if it doesn't work I won't bug you about it anymore."

"Test flight first."

"Test water first! _Please?_"

Elsa really did not want to try Anna's water idea right then. What if it was something she could technically do, but would tire her out and render her virtually powerless for a while? _Like what happened after I froze the air about a week ago…_ "Anna, I really don't want to try that right row. I will do it later," she said firmly. "Pilot to copilot: ready for takeoff?"

"No! Good grief, Elsa, why can't you just try it once? Then if it doesn't work, you'll have satisfied my curiosity and I won't bug you about it anymore!"

Elsa decided to do something she hadn't even considered since she broke her arm. She played up her injury in an attempt to get out of something, that water-making idea. "I have a broken arm, in case you forgot. And it's still sore."

Anna looked at her in concern, then dubiously. "Elsa, you're a terrible, horrible excuse-maker. You just made a whole entire complicated flying machine for goodness sakes without any apparent trouble. I completely believe you that it's still sore, probably a lot sore actually. But I don't believe one little bit that it's keeping you from trying the water-making thing."

Elsa laughed and impulsively reached over to give Anna a hug with her good arm. "Anna, you know me too well, even after all those years apart. You irritate me sometimes, like I assume all little siblings annoy older ones, but I'm glad you're my sister."

Anna returned the hug, being careful not to hurt Elsa's broken arm. "I'm glad you're my sister, too. I wouldn't trade you for anyone else in the whole world!"

"Even after I shut you out for thirteen years?" Elsa still had difficulty believing that Anna would still care about her after all the trouble she felt she caused. A ruined childhood. A frozen kingdom. Years of being shut out with no explanation. Causing Anna to literally freeze to death. _And Anna chose to sacrifice herself to save me after all that…_

"Yes, Elsa, even after you shut me out for thirteen years. I still don't think it was fair or right, but you felt like you didn't have any other choice." Anna suddenly remembered something Elsa _had_ told her years ago. _"I wish I could tell you why things are the way they are…but I can't. I…I'm…it's…There's something wrong with me that can't be cured. I'm…defective." Looking back now, I know that was Elsa's way of trying to explain what was going on and why…She DID tell me something important then and I didn't believe her. I thought what Elsa said was a bunch of nonsense; and it _is_ nonsense, but at the time she felt she couldn't say 'oh, I have ice powers that I can't control.'_ Anna debated on reminding Elsa that she _had_ told Anna a half-explanation from behind that door once, but then decided not to since Elsa was already getting in her unhappy thinking-about-the-past mode and telling her that definitely wouldn't help.

"Are we going to sit out here being all sentimental or are we going to take the NL-1-C on the test flight?" Elsa felt herself getting upset and wanted to snap herself back to the present. "And I promise I will try the water-making thing after the test flight."

Anna easily got the message. _Good job, Elsa; you pulled yourself out of an upset mood on your own._ "Ok, sounds good. By the way, Elsa, I shouldn't have fussed at you so much about the water thing when your arm still hurts. You made the ice-copter 'cause we NEEDED it. We don't 'need' to know if you can make water or not. And don't tell me it doesn't hurt now all of a sudden…I've broken mine before, and it definitely was not fine after only uh, three and a half days."

"Oh, yes, I remember. You fell down the stairs on a bicycle. Or should I say _off_ a bicycle?" Elsa teased.

Anna giggled.

"All right, if I'm being honest, it's still pretty sore and it aches, but it's not killing me anymore. Come on, let's go." Elsa started the engine and added, "Okay, take us up!"

"Same control mechanism as before?"

"Yes."

The NL-1-C rose smoothly into the air. "Whoa, Elsa, this one feels more… powerful and runs smoother than the other one!" Anna exclaimed. "And hey…you said 'not killing me anymore'. So it WAS hurting you bad before!"

"Well, this one is significantly larger than the original. It should feel different. Let's try a circle, counterclockwise." Elsa didn't respond to the rest of Anna's sentences.

"Got it." Anna frowned, realizing Elsa hadn't replied to the rest of what she'd said; then thought that Elsa probably wouldn't say anything more about it anyway.

After the circle, they took the NL-1-C through a few more moves; right turn, left turn, purposely tilting it in order to test how to remedy that, etc.

"There's one more thing that's different in the NL-1-C. Power on standby. Fasten harnesses. Cut the power," Elsa said.

"_What?_ There are no harnesses in this thing!"

"Yes there are, Anna. Just take a look." Elsa began fumbling with her own, but frowned when she realized her arm wouldn't let her fasten it properly. "Great. Just great. I guess I should have realized my stupid arm was going to get in the way."

"Here, Elsa, I'll fix it for you." Anna fastened it for Elsa and then did her own. "Ok, so what was that for?"

"Thank you, Anna. And it's so we can do 360's and such. Hang on tight and don't touch anything. Watch this!" Elsa took the main directional steering joystick control and flipped them a complete 360 degrees forwards in a flash.

Anna squealed in surprise.

Elsa flipped them a complete 360 degrees backwards. "Ok, so what did you think?"

"I think that was AWESOME! Do it again!"

"You can do it if you want to," Elsa told her. "I don't want to do it anymore though, because I'm using my left hand to do it and that jostles me around too much since I can't hold on. I know I'm not really going to fall out or anything; but it's making my arm hurt because it keeps bumping against either me or the dashboard, even with it secure in the sling. All you have to do is snap the controls either forwards or backwards. Just make sure you stop doing it when we're right-side up or we'll keep flipping or start flying upside down. I can hold on easily enough if you're doing the controls."

"All right…I think I got it…" Anna flipped them forwards 360 degrees.

Then 720.

Then 1,080. "Anna, what on earth do you think you're doing?! I said-" 1,440. "-stop it or we were going-" 1,800. "-to keep flipping!" 2,160. Elsa had had enough. She grabbed the controls that would normally be used to remedy tilting. Of course, this was rather extreme so-called 'tilting', but it would still work. Hopefully, considering that Elsa was getting dizzy. A few seconds later, the ice-copter was hovering in place. "Release the joystick, Anna, please."

"Aw, you're no fun." Anna did as Elsa asked, but she was disappointed. The dizzy flipping was fun!

"Anna, what on earth were you thinking?! You flipped us six times in quick succession! What if you had lost control or something because you were getting dizzy? I do agree that was fun, but the limit is TWO flips in a row. Not six." Elsa shook her head, trying to make the world stop spinning around her. "We are not taking unnecessary risks by doing stunts. The flipping capability is there for fun, nothing more. If you feel yourself getting dizzy, STOP what you're doing and regroup. All right?"

"Yeah." Anna didn't want to tell Elsa so, but she was definitely dizzy. Everything around Anna looked as if it were spinning or warped or bouncing or a mixture thereof.

"I think our test flight is a success, however," Elsa said a moment later. "Let's come in for a landing."

* * *

><p>Anna started steering them downwards rather haphazardly since she was still a bit dizzy and not particularly paying attention.<p>

The NL-1-C tipped all the way upside down and began plummeting out of control.

Elsa screamed.

And Anna said, "Oops."

"We're dropping at an alarming speed _UPSIDE DOWN_ from thousands of feet in the air and all you can say is 'oops'?! Anna, FIX IT! Now! Flip us back to right side up! You can do it!" Elsa was holding on to keep from bumping her injured arm on anything, which left her with no free hand to fix Anna's mistake herself.

"No, I can't! I DON'T KNOW HOW!" Anna screeched back, finally realizing the danger they were in.

Elsa scrunched her eyes shut as her mind flashbacked to how she had said those exact words to Anna in the ice palace. "Anna, WHY DID YOU HAVE TO SAY _THAT?_" She was _not_ going to respond with Anna's reply of 'I know you can', though, because it had not been helpful then and it probably wouldn't help now.

"BECAUSE I REALLY DON'T KNOW HOW, THAT'S WHY!" Anna shouted, not getting Elsa's real meaning. "Elsa, please, you gotta fix it yourself! Please!" Anna knew why Elsa hadn't already fixed the problem. _She's holding on, which she wouldn't have to do in the first place if it wasn't for me being stupid and causing her to get hurt…_

Elsa struggled to dump her own thoughts about the incident with Anna at the ice palace and get back to the present issue._ All right, Elsa. Fix the problem. You made this machine. Fix it._ She reached for the controls and flipped the NL-1-C back upright. Elsa bit her lip, anticipating the sharp pain that was sure to come after bumping her arm on something from the sudden flipping movement of the ice-copter. But Elsa didn't feel anything aside from a slight extra ache. "Thank you, Anna," she said when she realized what had happened. Anna had reached over to brace Elsa's arm to keep it still with her own so Elsa wouldn't bump it on anything.

"That was the least I could do. First I caused you to get injured in the first place, and now I caused that little…um, crisis by not paying attention," Anna said. "Do you think you can land the ice-copter on your own? I don't trust myself to do it right now."

Elsa wasn't paying attention to Anna. The second after she said 'Thank you Anna', she had started taking the ice-copter in for a landing. It was annoying and troublesome to do _all_ the steering with one hand, but at least she could easily feel what corrections needed to be made in the tilt and direction.

"I guess you CAN do it on your own," Anna said when she saw what Elsa was doing.

A gust of wind tilted the ice-copter to one side; and Elsa, still steering them downwards, couldn't catch it in time. She tried to compensate the tilting without sending them plummeting down out of control again, and the NL-1-C abruptly jolted upwards. Elsa made a pained noise but said nothing. Leaving them safely hovering in place, Elsa released the controls and closed her eyes for a moment. _All right, Elsa, you can do this. Land the machine. You _made_ it, remember? Forget the arm; it isn't going to kill you. Land the machine…_

Anna's voice broke into Elsa's private pep talk. "Elsa, lemme help you. I'll do the part of the steering I was doing before, and I promise I'll pay attention every second and be super careful."

"Be my guest. Just please, _please_ be careful and don't jerk us around. I already did it myself once." Elsa gladly let Anna take over half the controls.

"I will. I mean, I will don't jerk us around," Anna said.

* * *

><p>A few minutes later, they landed uneventfully on the fjord next to the dock. Anna climbed down out of the NL-1-C and then helped Elsa down. Elsa fastened the NL-1-C to the dock. "Come on, Anna, let's go back to the castle." Elsa started heading home.<p>

"Um…are you going to scold me for being stupid with the ice-copter?" Anna ran to catch up with Elsa.

"Anna…I don't have anything to say. Do you think I should?"

"Is that a trick question?"

"Do you think it is? It isn't."

Anna didn't know what to say to that, and the two of them arrived back at the castle without saying anything more.

"Do you want to get lunch?" Anna asked as they walked inside to the staircase. "It's way past lunchtime, I think."

"No thank you, not right now. I want to go upstairs and ice my arm for a while, and I'm not hungry," Elsa said. This was true; but she was also mad, and irritated, and disgusted, and upset, and she wasn't sure what else.

Anna watched as her sister headed upstairs. She was sure something was off about Elsa's behavior, but she wasn't sure what. It wasn't what Elsa said; it seemed more like what she wasn't saying. _But that's nothing new…Elsa's been acting funny since…well, since I flipped us six times in a row. Oops._ Anna decided to take lunch for herself and Elsa upstairs and find out exactly what was what and apologize for being reckless.

* * *

><p>A few minutes later, Anna knocked on Elsa's door. "Can I please come in?"<p>

"Yes," Elsa said from inside. She was lying on her bed icing her arm and just plain thinking.

Anna tried the door. "Uh…it's locked…"

"What?" Elsa didn't even remember doing that. _Stupid, stupid, stupid. I hate locking that door. Why did I do that?_ She dissolved the ice and went to open the door. "Sorry, Anna…I don't know why I did that. I hate locked doors."

"Maybe 'cause you were mad or upset or something?" Anna offered.

"Maybe," Elsa said as she climbed back on the bed and put the ice back on her arm. "I really didn't mean to though…wait, how did you know I was mad and upset?"

"You've been acting funny since I flipped us six times in a row. I don't know how I knew; I just did."

"Right, that. Anna, do you know how dumb that was? What happened right after that just proves it all the more. What if I had been completely unable to fix it instead of just avoiding doing so because it was going to hurt my arm? Neither of us are professional pilots. I do agree that flipping around is fun, but you took it too far…" Elsa saw Anna's expression and added, "Never mind. I'm sorry for snapping at you. I admit I was rather disgusted and mad at both you and me. You for taking unnecessary risks and not paying attention; and me for telling you it was okay to do flips in the first place and for not being able to immediately fix the problem."

"Don't apologize, Elsa. It WAS dumb. Although I disagree on the professional pilots thing-you _made_ that thing, Elsa. Which means you can make it do whatever you want."

"Maybe if I could use both hands right now, but I can't. Therefore, the point is invalid. Also, let's not test that idea after my arm is healed either. Too risky. To my knowledge, my flying machines work the same as a normal helicopter does. Well, excepting that they run on water." Elsa smiled. "Speaking of water…"

"Ooh, goody! Try it, try it!"

"Will you get a bucket from under the sink in the bathroom? If it does work, I don't want water all over my room." _I've had quite enough meltwater all over the floor in the past. _While Anna got the bucket, Elsa settled her arm back in the sling and dissolved the ice.

"Here it is. Elsa, why have you got a bucket under your sink anyway?"

Elsa's expression darkened. _So I could use water when I needed it without risking freezing all the pipes before_, she thought. Out loud she said, "Isn't under the sink a normal place for a bucket?"

"Um…yeah, I guess so. It still seems kinda weird, though." Anna looked curiously at Elsa. "And judging from that look on your face, there's definitely more to it than that."

Elsa immediately wiped any expressions she might have had off her face. "What look?"

"Elsa, I'm not stupid. You looked all frowny and upset and just now, you purposely went all neutral. Stop doing that dumb 'conceal, don't feel' thing. It's ok to be upset around me. I mean, I don't like it when you do, but I'll listen and give you lots of hugs or whatever." Anna paused, then added because she thought maybe Elsa didn't want to talk, "You don't _have_ to tell me exactly what's bothering you, but just please don't bottle stuff up and try to be emotionless. You've done that for far too long. And you shouldn't have been doing it in the first place."

Elsa gave Anna a small smile. "Too much practice doing that, I suppose. Although I must say it's an indispensable skill when dealing with people like Luthor or the Kryptonians, as you yourself pointed out awhile ago."

"Slight difference there, Elsa."

"All right, that bucket was there so I could use water without risking freezing all the pipes before. Now, moving on…" Elsa made a face at Anna that said, 'I told you what it was for, but I don't want to talk about it anymore, okay?'

* * *

><p>Elsa and Anna sat down across from each other on the floor, the bucket between them. Elsa made a block of ice in the bucket.<p>

Anna giggled. "That doesn't look like water!"

"Give me a chance here! I'm going to try to thaw it into water." Elsa held her hand over the ice and tried to thaw it, but the ice disappeared completely instead. "Would you believe I meant to do that?"

"Uh, no." Anna rested her chin in her hands, watching with great interest as Elsa made another block of ice in the bucket and tried again.

"And…take two! The audience will now watch the illustrious Elsa, elite of eliciting water-not ice!-make water. Excuse Miss Elsa's elongated eloquent elegant elocution of elucidating." Elsa managed to keep a straight face throughout her entire alliterated speech.

Anna cracked up laughing. "Elsa, that was HILARIOUS! Now stop the fancy talk and make the _el_ement, Little Miss _El_egant _El_ucidate-whatever-it-was-you-said. Wait, water isn't an element anyway…is it?"

"No, it's a compound. It's a compound of oxygen and hydrogen with the chemical formul with highly distinctive physical and chemical properties. It's able to dissolve many other substances; its solid form-ice-is _less _dense than the liquid form; its boiling point, viscosity, and surface tension are unusually high for its molecular weight, and it is partially dissociated into hydrogen and hydroxyl ions."

"Uh, that's nice," Anna said. She leaned over towards Elsa to whisper, "_You didn't have to give me that long-winded technical description. 'No, it's a compound' would have been fine."_

Elsa giggled, realizing she had just given Anna _far_ more information about the properties of water than she needed to. "Oops. Well, who knows what my ice is really made of anyway? Although I must say, I've eaten my own icicles before and they taste exactly like natural ones."

"You _ate_ icicles?" Anna was surprised Elsa would have admitted to doing that; Anna thought that Elsa would have considered that improper or something.

"I was in my ice palace on the North Mountain and I was hungry and thirsty!" Elsa defended herself.

"Oh. Well, it's fine. I just thought it was funny. The water?" Anna asked, thinking Elsa was going to start thinking about something that bothered her again.

"Right." Concentrating hard, Elsa closed her eyes and held her hand over the block of ice in the bucket. _Water. Water. Water. Not disappear. Water. Water. Water._ "Is it working?" Elsa asked, still thinking and concentrating.

"Kind of! There's a big puddle under the ice now! Anyways, you didn't make it disappear entirely."

Elsa opened her eyes and stared into the bucket, still trying to thaw the ice all the way into water. _This is hard! Water. Water. Water._ There was now about half water, half ice in the bucket. A full minute later, and it was…finally water. Elsa dropped her hand in her lap in pure exhaustion. "Well, it did work, Anna, but it's really, really hard to do. It was far easier for me to make that whole ice-copter than to make that bucket of water. Almost like I'm not meant to do that, like it isn't something someone like me is supposed to try." Elsa made the effort to dip her tired fingers in the water she'd just made to check the temperature. "And this water is a little above freezing-38 degrees, I think-which explains why it was so hard to make. It's above my comfort zone production-wise regarding temperature."

"How can you tell that it's EXACTLY 38 degrees?"

"I don't know…I think I have an internal 'thermometer' of some kind. Can't you tell what temperature something is or the temperature outside?" Elsa hadn't really thought about it. She had just noticed that since she'd learned how to control her powers, she could feel temperature changes and automatically know the degrees. Although no amount of cold would bother her at all, she would easily get too hot, like when Anna had started up the fireplace in her room. Before, she couldn't feel temperatures of any kind at all, so Elsa figured that regular people must be able to feel exact temperatures too.

"Not down to the exact degree something is. I just think, 'oh, it's cold' or 'oh, it's hot' or whatever. That's pretty awesome that you can tell the exact degrees like that," Anna said.

"Mmhmm, yeah, whatever," Elsa said as she stood up and started carrying the bucket of water into the bathroom. _Another thing I'm not normal about._ She'd been hoping the temperature thing was something everyone had.

"Hey, where are you going with that?" Anna jumped up and blocked Elsa's path to the bathroom. "And what's the matter all of a sudden?"

"Number one, I'm dumping the water down the drain. Number two, I was hoping the temperature thing was something about me that's actually _normal_. But I guess it isn't." Elsa sighed and added, "Anna, please move…"

"Uh-uh! You are not dumping out that water that you said was so hard to make down the drain. Can I have it?" Without waiting for an answer, Anna grabbed the bucket and set it on the floor by the door. Then she ran back over to Elsa and pushed her flat on the bed. "And 'normal' is so overrated! I'm gonna tickle you till you admit it, too!"

Elsa began laughing uncontrollably. "Anna, get off! Get off!"

"Not till you admit it!"

Elsa sprayed snowflakes all over Anna.

"Cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater!" Anna squealed. "No fair! That's cold!"

"Well, the cold never bothered me anyway."

"Well, the cold does bother me anyway!" Anna replied, giggling.

"Okay, you win! Stop it, please," Elsa said suddenly as she stopped laughing. Anna had somehow bumped her arm, and it started hurting her again.

"You gotta say 'Normal is so overrated!' first!" Anna paused when she noticed just what her sister was doing. Elsa had her eyes closed, and she was biting her lip as she held her broken arm. "Oh my goodness, Elsa, I'm so sorry! I was just, um…trying to make you happy…"

Elsa smiled and whispered, "You're right, Anna, normal is so overrated." A minute later, the pain subsided to its original dull sore and achy state, and Elsa sat up. "Anna, don't apologize. You _did_ make me happy. Besides, I don't really know what happened…I might have bumped it myself for all I know."

"Somehow I don't think you did. Are you sure you're ok now?"

"Yes, Anna, I'm fine. Seriously, though…a _tickle fight_?! What on earth made you do that?" Elsa started giggling again.

"Uh…'cause it's fun? Hey, what's so funny now?" Anna asked.

"Normal really is overrated! _You_ aren't normal either! What person besides you would have shoved the queen of Arendelle on her bed, especially when she has a broken arm, and then start tickling her? And you do insane things like flipping us six times in a row in the ice-copter, and you _never_ act like a stereotypical princess. But that's a good thing." Elsa patted the bed next to her, and Anna promptly flopped onto the bed. "And then there's me…I don't think I need explain why the Snow Queen isn't normal." Elsa stealthily dropped an ice cube down Anna's back.

Anna jumped up and began squealing. "Get it off me, get it off me! NOT COOL, ELSA!"

"Oh, yes it is. It's cool, all right." Elsa laughed as she watched Anna jump about, trying to get rid of the ice cube. "Okay, you can stop now, Anna. It's gone."

Anna stopped jumping about. "By the way, I just realized what you said before. I get special privilege to tickle the queen of Arendelle if I want to, because she just so happens to be my sister Elsa," she said in a superior tone. "Although I should have thought it over a bit more before shoving you like that. I'm sorry I hurt your arm again."

"It's fine, Anna, really," Elsa said as she walked over to Anna and gave her a hug. "Now just one question...what are you intending to do with that water I made?" she asked, eying the bucket by the door.

"Uh, I don't know. I just didn't want you to dump it out. Actually, I know exactly what I'm gonna do with it!"

Elsa did not like that mischievous expression on Anna's face. "Do not dump it on anyone. That water is not going to warm up to a normal room temperature, I don't think." She thought for a moment, wondering what else Anna might do with it, and added, "Do not drink it, either."

Anna looked disappointed for a moment, then perked up. She _had_ intended to dump it on someone, but hey, drinking it sounded like a good idea to her. It wouldn't waste it… _Why not? It's just water, after all._ "Ok, I won't dump it on people." _Well, I won't dump it on PEOPLE…just one PERSON…_

"Good. By the way, we are taking Luthor and Otis to Washington, D.C. tomorrow. We'll leave early in the morning and take breakfast with us."

* * *

><p>Late that night after everyone had gone to sleep, Anna decided she was thirsty. The bucket of water Elsa had made sat in the corner of Anna's room. Anna tiptoed downstairs, grabbed a glass from the kitchen, and came back into her room.<p>

She drank nearly all the water.

**A/N: So...Elsa can make water, but it's really hard for her to do.:P**

**Next chapter coming soon:)**

**P.S. I'm still working on the next 'Secret Passages' chapter...I'll try to get it up ASAP.:)**


	36. Chapter 35-Day Sixteen, Part 1

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who's followed/favorited and/or is reading but not reviewing:)**

**No reviews to reply to this time...:( Oh, well.:) *not-so-subtle hint to please leave a review;)XD* I love reading comments, lol:)**

**On to the story!:)**

Chapter 34-Day Sixteen, Part 1

Although Anna was usually a late riser, the next morning she purposely woke up very early. She tiptoed into Elsa's room, carrying the bucket with the little bit of water she didn't drink the night before. "SURPRISE!" Anna shouted, and dumped the water on her sleeping sister.

Elsa sneezed because water had gone up her nose and then grumpily turned over, carefully laying her injured arm on a pillow next to her. "Anna…just so y'know…that water was not freezing cold…to me. Go back to sleep. Still early…"

Anna was disappointed at Elsa's reaction. _She didn't even wake up all the way!_ Another idea struck her. If ice-cold water didn't wake Elsa up, maybe hot-but-not-_really_-hot water would do the trick. Anna quietly went in Elsa's bathroom and filled the bucket with warm-almost-hot water. She tested the water herself to make sure it wasn't _too_ hot. It wasn't. Anna tiptoed back over to Elsa and yelled, "SURPRISE!" again.

This time Elsa woke up.

And she screamed.

And bolted straight up in bed.

Anna giggled nervously. "Hi, so um, nice morning, isn't it?"

"That. Was. A. Rotten. Surprise." Elsa hated the stinging feel of that hot water all over her. She froze it all and melted it back into much cooler water with a flick of her wrist. Since it was natural water, Elsa couldn't get rid of it entirely, just alter its physical state and temperature. _Well, I'm still all wet, but at least it's not scalding hot anymore. _"Anna, do NOT do that again. Why did you dump burning hot water all over me?"

Anna was puzzled but worried. She had just wanted to play a joke on Elsa, not burn her. "I specifically checked to make sure it wasn't too hot. It felt warm-not-quite-hot to me…I didn't burn you, did I?"

"No, but that water was too hot for me. It actually stung. And besides, now the whole bed and me too are both soaking wet!" Elsa brushed her dripping wet bangs back over the top of her head since they were falling in her face.

"I figured you'd just dissolve it into nothing."

Elsa sighed and said, "That was natural water, so I can't get rid of it like that. I can only alter its physical state and temperature."

"Oops," Anna said sheepishly.

"Oops is right." Elsa was still annoyed. "Wait, I do have one thing I think I can do…" All the water droplets swirled through the air and formed a large snowflake that hovered over Elsa's palm. She noticed Anna still holding the bucket and tossed the snowflake towards the bucket. The snowflake landed neatly inside and immediately turned back into water. "Well, now that you've woken me up, Anna, I think I'll go ahead and start getting ready to leave. You go get dressed yourself. Wear something nice, but not over the top fancy."

"Ok. I'll come right back and braid your hair for you." Anna was eager to do something to make up for dumping too-hot water all over Elsa, even if it was something she'd been doing for her the last few days anyway. Anna took off, the bucket of water swinging, water splashing out leaving puddles behind her.

Elsa privately did a facepalm. _Anna is silly and messy, but I love her anyway._

* * *

><p>When Anna came back, Elsa was wearing her original ice dress, her hair loose, and she was making her bed. "Oh, hi again, Anna. Just let me finish what I'm doing," Elsa said, awkwardly smoothing down the comforter with her left hand.<p>

"Good grief, Elsa, why don't you just ask Gerda or somebody to do it for you? I never make my bed anyway-it either stays unmade or Gerda does it."

"Because I _always_ do it myself. Anna, don't make Gerda make your bed anymore. Do it yourself. It takes me about two minutes…well, it _usually_ takes me about two minutes…" Elsa gave up smoothing out the last wrinkle in the comforter and put the pillows back on the bed. "I just remembered something. What did you do with the rest of the water I made yesterday?"

"I dumped it on you, remember? You said something about the water not being freezing cold to you and then you sneezed and turned over."

"Anna, don't play dumb. That was _not_ all of the water I made. What did you do with the rest of it?" Elsa had visions of Anna dumping it on Gerda or Kristoff or something…or drinking it.

"Come here, Elsa, and I'll do your hair for you," Anna said, trying to change the subject.

Elsa obliged but said, "Anna. Tell me what you did with it!"

"Um…" Anna started braiding Elsa's hair. "Uh…I refuse to answer on the grounds it might incriminate me. Yeah, that's it!"

"Nice try, Anna. I repeat, what did you do with the water?!"

"You really wanna know?"

"Yes, I really want to know!"

"Ok, I kinda may have drank the rest of it…" Anna admitted.

"You did _what_?!" Elsa was horrified. "Anna, WHY DID YOU DO THAT?! I have no idea what was in that water! It could have been poison to you or something!"

"Uh…you're making frost on the floor," Anna said. "And your braid is finished."

Elsa glanced down at the frosty floor. "Sorry…thank you for fixing my braid." She dissolved the frost on the floor and added as something struck her, "Anna, when exactly did you drink that water?"

"Late last night."

_Well, that was several hours ago…Anna is probably fine then._ "I think you'll be fine then. Come on; let's head down to the fjord. Our two little passengers and four guards and our breakfast are probably already down there."

"Of course I'll be fine. It was just water," Anna said, linking elbows with Elsa as the two headed down the hall.

"It was 'just water' that your sister with ice powers made. It would be one thing if I'd been the one who drank it, but it could have had some weird effect on you or something," Elsa replied.

"But if that was going to happen, don't you think it would have happened by now?"

"Point taken."

* * *

><p>AN HOUR LATER IN THE SKY SOMEWHERE OVER LAKE ERIE…<p>

Elsa and Anna were flying the NL-1-C without any issues over Lake Erie. The four guards, Luthor, and Otis sat in the passenger area.

"Veer slightly left," Elsa said when she saw land. "Washington, D.C. is going to be…southeast of here."

"Yeah, but WHERE southeast?" Anna asked. "Hey, why are my hands all sweaty-feeling?"

"Are you hot? I can cool it off a little if you like."

"I didn't THINK I was hot…But yeah, maybe cool it off a little."

"You got it." Elsa cooled the inside of the ice-copter. "Is that better?"

Anna shivered. "Not that much! What is it, like 40 degrees in here now?"

"50 degrees. Shall I revert it back to its original state?" Elsa asked.

"Yeah. How come you can alter warmer temperatures but it's so hard for you to make water?"

"I don't know. It's probably because I'm thinking 'cool the natural temperature', which is easy for me. When I revert it back to its original state, I cannot make it warmer than it was originally or is naturally at that moment, though. When I made the water, I was 'producing' the temperature, not altering it, so I guess that might have something to do with it? I honestly don't know for sure," Elsa said as she returned the temperature to its original state.

"That sounds logical."

* * *

><p>THIRTY MINUTES LATER IN THE ICE-COPTER SOMEWHERE OVER THE EASTERN UNITED STATES…<p>

Elsa stared in surprise out the front 'window' of the ice-copter. A large something was hurtling toward them at high speed. _It's another flying machine of some kind, but…it's moving so fast!_ "Anna, lower altitude! Quick!"

"I am, I am!"

The NL-1-C dropped out of the way just in time. The large commercial jet zoomed by right overhead.

Both Elsa and Anna gave simultaneous sighs of relief.

"Wow, I guess I got so startled my hands got all wet!" Anna said.

Elsa frowned. _Wet? That's odd…Anna wouldn't have become that disturbed she got sweaty from 'just' that…_

* * *

><p>The pilot of the commercial jet sent out a radio announcement. "Unauthorized flying vehicle of some type on the loose. Does not reply to radio contact. Looked to be a helicopter, but it was…ice? Over and out."<p>

* * *

><p>An hour and a half later, the NL-1-C was over the Atlantic Ocean. "Anna, we've gone too far. This is the ocean off the east coast of the United States! I know it is!" Elsa exclaimed.<p>

Anna turned the ice-copter back in the direction they had come from, while Elsa made sure that they didn't tip out of control.

"We need to land and get directions," Elsa decided. She noticed Anna's hand slipping off the controls and asked, "Anna, what is going on?"

"I don't know. My hand's all slippery for some reason…"

* * *

><p>Five minutes later, they landed on a large area of green grass amidst concrete and long buildings on either side. Elsa and Anna looked at each other, wondering what to do now. "Well, let's go ask someone for directions," Elsa said.<p>

Anna tossed both hands in the air, saying, "We can't just waltz up to a stranger and ask where Washington, D.C. is!" Water sprayed all over the cockpit of the ice-copter.

Elsa's eyes grew wide. _Did Anna just do that?!_ Trying to maintain a calm demeanor, she asked, "Anna, where did that water come from?"

"Um…I thought you did it…"

"Well, I didn't…" _Oh my goodness Anna did do it! That water she drank…_ "Anna, wave your hand like I usually do when I'm making ice or snow," Elsa said. Her suspicions were confirmed when Anna obliged and sent a stream of water flying. "Not on me!" Elsa was able to freeze the water and dissolve it, since it wasn't natural water. She pushed Anna's hand and directed the water at the floor of the ice-copter instead.

Anna started laughing. "Oh boy, this is awesome! Now I've got powers too!" She stopped laughing when she realized she had no idea how to stop making the stream of water. "Elsa, help! How do you make it stop?!"

"I would assume you just have to use your mind and thoughts to make it stop…I don't really know!"

Anna managed to stop the stream of water but knew it wasn't entirely under her control. "Thanks, Elsa." She gave Elsa a hug, spraying water around again in the process.

Elsa jerked away in horror. _I've…practically poisoned Anna! What have I done?! _"Anna, I've contaminated you! This is happening 'cause you drank that water I made!" Another thought popped into her head. "Don't let Luthor or Otis find out. They know I have powers, but they think you don't. We won't be able to explain this logically…"

"Elsa, you did not 'contaminate' me. It's pretty fun actually!" Anna said. "Just, um…I have no idea how to control the water. It keeps popping out accidentally," Anna said as another sprinkle of water went everywhere.

_Oh no, oh no, oh no…Not this again. I have enough trouble controlling my own. How am I supposed to help Anna?!_ "Well, we know 'conceal don't feel' doesn't work at all, so don't even try that," Elsa said. That was pretty much the only thing she was certain of.

Someone knocked on the door on the pilot side.

"Well, for now just try your best not to splash water on anyone. If you make a mistake, I'll try to freeze and get rid of it before anyone notices. Deal?" Elsa whispered.

"Deal."

* * *

><p>Elsa opened the door to the passenger area and announced that she and Anna were going to get directions and come right back. "Please wait here for us." She and Anna climbed out of the ice-copter into a crowd of people. Elsa pressed herself flat against the side of the ice-copter. <em>Too many people…too close. <em>She just wanted all those people to leave her and Anna and the rest of their entourage alone. _Wait, I don't think these people even know who we are! _she realized when a chorus of 'what IS that thing?!' and 'where did you come from?' type questions came at her and Anna from all directions. Elsa stole a quick glance at Anna. Anna was bouncing on her toes with her hands clasped behind her back, a big smile on her face. _Well, at least Anna's not worried anyways…But she's acting overly hyper._ Water began sprinkling wildly in a twirling pattern around Anna. Elsa edged closer to Anna and nudged her, whispering, "You have to get un-hyper. That's why the water is going crazy like that." _At least I'm pretty sure that's why._

Anna immediately realized what Elsa meant. "Um, I'll just hop back in the ice-copter," she whispered back.

"No, don't leave!" Elsa said, not wanting to deal with the crowd alone. Too late. Anna climbed back inside the ice-copter and Elsa froze and dissolved the water in an instant. Elsa turned back to the crowd.

"Who are you?" "She's the one that helped Superman get rid of those criminals!" "Uh-uh! She can't be!" "What's that thing behind you?" "Where'd you come from?"

The barrage of questions was starting to set Elsa on edge. Finally, she just shouted, "QUIET EVERYONE!" _I wonder if I should have done that…this isn't my country…I'm not in charge here…_

Most of the noise died down. One person spoke up, "_Are_ you the one that helped Superman get rid of those criminals?"

"Yes. Now if you please, where is-"

Elsa's question was interrupted when someone else said, "You can't be."

"I can't be, hmm?" Elsa made a large snowflake that hovered over the crowd and the ice-copter, then dissolved it. "Now what was that you said again?" She paused and then added, "I am Queen Elsa of Arendelle. Arendelle is located on the other side of Lake Erie. All I want is directions to Washington, D.C., please."

"You're IN Washington, D.C.," the someone who had said 'you can't be' told her.

Elsa's face turned red. _Okay, that was STUPIDLY embarrassing…_ "Thank you. Could you also give directions to U.S. police headquarters?" she asked politely.

A policeman walked up asking what all the commotion was about. When he noticed Elsa's ice-copter, he immediately ordered the crowd to disperse and then turned to Elsa. "We have received several alerts that said there was an unauthorized flying vehicle on the loose that appeared to be made of ice. I believe that vehicle has been identified, wouldn't you say?"

Elsa was confused. "Unauthorized? I am Queen Elsa of Arendelle…I _made_ that, so it is personally authorized by me."

"Right, and I'm the president. Surely you can't expect me to believe that."

_President?_ "I believe the president is the person I need to see," Elsa said.

"Miss, you can't just land a mysterious vehicle in the middle of D.C. and say you need to see the president. What is that thing really made of anyway? It can't be ice."

Elsa frowned. "Well, it is. I made it. Would you like to see how it works?"

The policeman sighed and agreed, thinking it wouldn't do any harm to humor her.

Elsa opened the door to the ice-copter and climbed in. "See, it runs on water," she said, starting the engine by unfreezing the water-fuel. "It's non-polluting."

"And my sister always tells the truth," Anna jumped in, glaring at the policeman. "Lucky thing for you she's nice or she would've turned you into a popsicle for calling her a liar."

"Anna! That was rude! Apologize…_now."_ Elsa thought this whole thing couldn't possibly be going any worse. _What a horrible first impression I've made. I hope I haven't ruined Arendelle's reputation here… _"You'll have to excuse my sister…no worries, I will not do anything of the sort," she said to the policeman.

"Well, I am not sorry," Anna said. "He thinks you're fibbing when it should be obvious to anyone with eyes that you're telling the truth!" Anna clapped her hands behind her back when she realized she was starting to accidentally make water again. "Oh yeah, and if you don't believe that Elsa's the one who helped Superman get rid of the Kryptonian criminals, you ought to ask her how she broke her arm." Anna had the sudden urge to send water flying all over that policeman.

Elsa turned to Anna, knowing what she was thinking, and pointedly said, "Don't you dare." Then she turned back to the policeman and said, "If you would like tangible proof that I am who I say I am, there's this" she made a snowflake that hovered over her palm "and I also have Lex Luthor and one of his cohorts. That is why I've come, to turn them in to the United States police."

"I apologize, Queen Elsa." The policeman recognized that name, and he couldn't deny the sight of Elsa using her powers right in front of him. "Where is Luthor?"

"In the passenger area." Elsa climbed out of the ice-copter, walked around to the side, and opened the door. The four guards escorted Luthor and Otis out; and Anna climbed out of the ice-copter as well when she caught Elsa's 'Please come out' look in her direction.

The policeman called the police station, then told Elsa he would drive the two criminals to the police station. "We have attempted to bring justice to these two before, but they are very elusive. How did you happen to capture them?"

"They took my sister hostage and tried to get me to join with them to kill Superman," Elsa explained. "You two have twisted brains." Elsa directed that comment at Luthor and Otis.

"Thank you for the compliment," Luthor smirked.

Realizing Luthor was mimicking what she had responded to him once before, Elsa immediately shot back, "You are quite welcome." _Two can play that game. He wants deadpan sarcasm; that's what he'll get._

"Thank you for the welcome."

"Thank you for saying thank you," Elsa responded, her blue eyes flashing.

Anna realized her sister was starting to get mad, so she jumped in, "Hey, Mr. Policeman, can't you get this idiot out of here? He's beginning to become offensive and a large irritant."

To Elsa's chagrin, she accidentally burst out laughing. _Boy, Anna is so right! But…I need to shut up. Queens should not crack up laughing over a situation like this. It's immature. _Then Elsa realized the policeman was laughing as well.

"Well, Princess…Anna-is that correct?" (Anna nodded.) "-I shall take the offensive and irritating criminals out of your presence now," the policeman said, still chuckling. Another policeman came up and escorted Luthor and Otis to a squad car.

"Good riddance," Anna said, sounding pleased.

"Thank you, sir," Elsa said.

"No, the U.S. thanks _you_ for capturing an arch criminal and his accomplice," the policeman told her. "Queen Elsa, you do, however, need to register your flying machine, and if at all possible have it equipped for radio contact."

Elsa bit her lip, wondering how to ask what 'radio contact' was without sounding like a complete idiot. "How do I get my ice-copter registered, and why exactly do I have to?" she asked to stall for time.

"For air traffic control purposes, that's all. Also, are you and your sister authorized aircraft pilots?"

"I _made_ my…aircraft, so I suppose I am authorized to pilot my ice-copter?" Elsa said hesitantly. _I have a feeling that's not what he means…_

"She's actually made two ice-copters," Anna said, trying to help. "This one and a smaller one that only holds two people comfortably."

The policeman frowned. "Making an 'ice-copter' does not make you an authorized aircraft pilot…"

"Okay…then I have authorized myself as an aircraft pilot since I am the queen of Arendelle," Elsa offered.

"Does Arendelle even have any other aircraft aside from the two 'ice-copters' you've made?"

"No. When Princess Anna and I were interviewed for an article in the Metropolis Daily Planet newspaper, the reporters came in a helicopter. I based my aircraft designs off of that helicopter," Elsa explained. _Ugh, I am so clueless about modern technology._

"You built two entire flying machines out of ice from simply seeing a normal helicopter once?!" the policeman asked in surprise.

"Well, I did get a close look at the engine before they left. I drew up blueprints before I actually built it. It's not like I didn't even draw it first." Elsa tried to downplay the whole thing. _Although I probably _could_ have just made it without doing that. It would have been risky, though._

"You made an entire engine just like that by simply _looking_ at it? And you know how to draw blueprints?"

"Elsa's got this fantastic, almost photographic memory," Anna jumped in. "And she loves drawing blueprints."

"How did you make an entire working engine out of ice?" the policeman asked.

"Would you…would you like me to demonstrate?" Elsa asked hesitantly. _I don't know how making a whole engine out of ice works. It just…does._

"No offense, but don't you need both hands to do it? You don't have to put yourself out."

Now Elsa smiled. "No. I made this ice-copter yesterday." Elsa closed her eyes, held out her left hand, and concentrated hard. A few seconds later, an engine, albeit smaller than the one in the NL-1-C, sat on the ground in front of her. "There. All finished."

The policeman's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "You just…that's a whole…you made that intricate, complicated thing in less than five seconds! I believe we'll make an exception for you. You do not have to register your ice-copter or worry about being authorized pilots."

Elsa stepped backwards a few steps until she was almost behind Anna. "I'm sorry…I didn't mean to freak you out, sir." _I think I scared him. What else is new? I didn't lose control…_

"Elsa, he's just surprised," Anna whispered in her ear, realizing that Elsa thought the man was scared of her.

Elsa felt Anna pulling her out from behind her. _I hope Anna's right._ "Sir, could you tell my sister and I where to get the music for a certain song? Sing the part you know," Elsa told Anna.

Anna cleared her throat to get the policeman's attention. He was still staring at Elsa's ice engine. "Ahem. It goes like this…" Anna proceeded to sing the lines from 'Ready to Go' that she knew.

The policeman chuckled. "That's 'Ready to Go' by Republica. You can buy a CD of it at Barnes & Noble or Best Buy."

Elsa's jaw dropped. _What is a CD?! And what's Barnes & Noble or Best Buy?!_ "I don't believe we have CD's, Barnes & Nobles, or Best Buys in Arendelle…"

"Uh…you could catch a taxi to Tysons Corner Mall. There's a Barnes & Noble and a Best Buy there."

"What's a taxi?" Anna blurted.

"You pay money for a taxi driver to drive to wherever you want to go…"

Remembering the issue with the gold bars at Cedar Point, Elsa asked, "I don't suppose you can pay for the taxi with gold bars, can you?"

"You'll have to redeem your gold bars at a bank."

"Is a bank here like a…public treasury?" Elsa asked. _I feel so STUPID. I don't know how anything works here!_

"You and your sister don't know anything about general life here, do you?" the policeman asked.

Elsa decided it was best to just be honest. "No, sir, we do not. I believe Arendelle is a little behind the times when it comes to technology. Would you be willing to escort us to a bank? It sounds like we cannot accomplish anything without U.S. currency."

"Certainly."

**A/N: Elsa and Anna are more than a little muddled about modern United States stuff, aren't they...:P**

**To make things clear, Anna's water powers that she ended up with from drinking Elsa's water are NOT permanent. It's temporary...I thought giving Anna powers was a cool (pun not intendedXD) idea, but I didn't want it to be permanent. Hence she gets temporary water powers from Elsa.:P**

**Next chapter coming soon!:) **

**P.S. I'm still editing the next chapter of 'Secret Passages'...I'm having a little trouble with making it come out like I want it to. I feel like it's turning out completely overboard angst and depressing, and yet I think it's the way it should be.:/ So...I'll try to get it posted tomorrow. MAYBE later today, but probably not.:P**


	37. Chapter 36-Day Sixteen, Part 2

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who's followed/favorited and/or is reading but not reviewing!:)**

**bananas-rule-2015-Oh, it's fine:) Lol, I didn't want to give Anna permanent powers of any kind. I just thought temporary water powers from Elsa would be a fun thing to have in the story.;) **

**ElsaIsAmazing-Lol, me too.;) Temporary powers seemed like a good 'compromise'. I'd been thinking how to even come up with such a thing, then I thought 'Hey, I wonder what would happen if Anna drinks the water Elsa made' and that's where it came from.:P I hope it seems at least _sort of_ logical...;) No, you weren't rambling, and if you were, I wouldn't care anyway.:) I guess you can see that I didn't tone it down for that chapter now:/ :P**

**Robert200188-I hope you won't be disappointed that the story's mostly about Elsa and Anna!:) 'Cause Superman IS in the story, but I'm still focusing on Elsa and Anna mostly...:P Thanks for the review!**

**On to the story!:)**

Chapter 35-Day Sixteen, Part 2

After Elsa had requested to take a look under the hood of the police car (and subsequently made a car out of ice large enough to hold her, Anna, their four guards, and the policeman); Elsa asked where she could acquire water to put in the fuel tank.

"You're going to put water in the fuel tank, Queen Elsa? Why?" the policeman asked.

"My newfangled machines run on water instead of kerosene or whatever other substance you put in the fuel tank," Elsa explained. _I hope the ice-car works properly…I didn't make blueprints for it…_

"Gasoline or diesel," the policeman muttered.

To which Elsa promptly countered, "Well, using water for fuel makes my vehicles non-polluting. Besides, kerosene can be costly."

Anna giggled. _Too bad Elsa's machines can't be started without Elsa herself unfreezing the fuel. Because I bet people would pay a ton for something that's completely environmentally friendly._

"What is so funny?" Elsa asked.

"Nothing…just that I bet your ice-car and ice-copter would be best-sellers if it weren't for the fact that nobody can start them but you. You know, 'cause they're completely environmentally friendly." Anna gestured excitedly at Elsa's ice-car and the police car, and a sprinkle of water popped out of her hand.

Elsa's eyes went wide, and she immediately froze the water and dissolved it. The whole incident took about two seconds. She could only hope nobody had seen what happened.

"Well, I think it's starting to rain. How much water do you need?" the policeman asked. "And if you found a way to make your ice vehicles run without freezing and unfreezing the fuel, you could make a fortune off of them, Queen Elsa. Your sister is correct-people will pay high dollar for a green vehicle."

Elsa privately facepalmed. _It's SUNNY outside, for goodness sakes! Thank goodness he didn't realize Anna did it though. Hey, wait a second…Anna…water… perfect! And what's a 'green' vehicle? My vehicles are translucent blue ice, not green…must be slang for 'environmentally friendly'._ "Just one moment alone with my sister, please." Elsa grabbed Anna's hand and took her around the side of the car to the fuel tank opening. "Anna, can you fill up the fuel tank? Please?"

Anna grinned and obliged. "Yeah, sure!" She sent a stream of water flying into the fuel tank. Soon the tank was full. "Um, Elsa…can you make the water stop?"

"_Anna!_ YOU have to make the water stop! Not me!" Elsa whispered frantically. _Argh, why did I ask Anna to do that?! I knew she didn't really know how to control it!_

"I can't, Elsa! It isn't working!" Anna whispered back. "And I…um, I think the fuel tank is full…" Anna's eyes grew big as she stared at the water now overflowing out of the fuel tank.

Elsa bit her lip and froze the water in the fuel tank. That left Anna shooting a stream of water at the ground by the curb. _What am I supposed to do?! _Elsa's eyes fell on the storm drain. "Anna, send the water down that drain thing. Now. _Please_ try to control it. _Please!_ I'm so sorry I stuck you with this!"

"Elsa, it's my fault, not yours…you did say not to drink the water you made…" Anna tried to make Elsa feel better.

"What's going on over there?" the policeman called.

"Nothing! We're almost ready!" Elsa called back. _Wait…every time Anna has trouble controlling the water, she's hyper and excited…the opposite of excited is bored… _"Anna, I think I know how your powers work! Try to think of something really, really boring."

"What? Well, ok, I'm sure you know more about it than me…" Anna closed her eyes and thought hard. _Boring…something boring…ooh, I know! Drawing blueprints. Well, it's boring to me anyways._ "Did it work?"

"Yes!" Elsa exclaimed in relief. _Thank goodness._ "Anna, when you're excited and hyper, the water goes crazy. When you're bored-or, at least, think of something boring-you can easily control it," she explained.

"Wait, what? So I gotta be bored all the time?" Anna asked, frowning. "Can't I just get some gloves or something? They helped you before, at least some."

"_No,_ you may not do any such thing," Elsa almost snapped. "I will _not_ have you doing any of the inane coping skills I did when I was little. We'll figure this out together. And no, you don't have to be bored. Just avoid getting…overly hyper and excited," she finished, realizing that she was asking Anna to avoid a very common feeling of hers. _Great. I can't make Anna not be herself… _Elsa turned away from her sister, trying to think of a solution to their problem.

Anna took Elsa's shoulders and turned her back around. "Elsa. Listen to me. There is _no way_ I can keep from being hyper or excited, even just until we get home. I really would rather get some gloves. Elsa, please don't blame yourself for this. It isn't your fault one bit."

"But Anna…you'll be concealing and not feeling, and I'm telling you from personal experience it's going to end up _exploding_ at the worst possible time!" Elsa replied in a distressed tone.

_Elsa's almost crying, _Anna thought when she noticed the tears starting to fill her sister's eyes. _She's more upset about this than I am. _"Elsa, I…" Anna broke off as the policeman evidently had finally had enough of waiting on them and walked over.

"We…acquired some water," Elsa said as she struggled to pull herself together. _I don't need anyone knowing what's going on._ "So let's go." She climbed into the ice-car and directed Anna to sit in the passenger seat. The four guards and the policeman piled into the two rows of seats behind them. "Could you give directions to a bank, please?"

"Uh, Elsa…d'you want someone else to drive?" Anna asked.

"You just want to drive yourself," Elsa teased. "And no…since there's just the one steering wheel, I can do it myself." Elsa started the engine and pulled away from the curb onto the street. "Directions, please?"

"Queen Elsa, have you ever driven a car before?" the policeman asked.

"No…I want directions to the bank, please," Elsa replied.

"And the first time she drives, she has a broken arm and she makes an entire car out of ice," the policeman muttered. "Take a right at the stoplight," he said in a normal voice.

"I heard all of that," Elsa replied with just a hint of amusement as Anna started giggling beside her. "What is a stoplight?"

_What is a stoplight?! _"The pole with the lights on it about a block up the street…Red means stop, green means go…"

"Okay, thank you." Elsa took a right as instructed.

* * *

><p>By the time they reached the bank, Elsa felt completely embarrassed. She had had to ask what certain signs were for. She found out she wasn't technically supposed to be driving a car anyway-she didn't have a driver's license. She had nearly caused several accidents because other cars slowed down to look at the ice-car. And worst of all, the ice-car did not work exactly as Elsa intended.<p>

The ice-car's acceleration speed was abnormally fast. Forget 0-60 in five seconds. Elsa's ice-car could do 0-60 in about two seconds flat. When the directions she was given sent them off an exit ramp onto the interstate, Elsa had had to abruptly stop the ice-car when a car in front broke down. Elsa steered around the stopped vehicle, stopped to make sure no one was coming; then all of a sudden the ice-car went zooming onto the interstate at 65 miles an hour and everyone, including Elsa herself, screamed at the sudden acceleration. "ELSAAA! WHAT DID YOU DO?" Anna screeched. Once everyone realized that it was just the simple fact that the ice-car could accelerate unusually quickly, everyone had a good laugh except Elsa, who just wished she could disappear. "I didn't know my ice-car would do that," she apologized.

Then there was the fact that the ice-car's exhaust pipe ended up leaking fuel. This would have been fine, except that the dripping water turned into ice upon hitting the road, which confused Elsa to no end. Why would dripping _water _turn to _ice_ when it was 78 degrees Fahrenheit outside, according to Elsa's internal thermometer?_ I'm never going to figure out why my powers do certain things… _So there was a slippery trail of ice on the road, which made other cars skid if they had not noticed it. After all, nobody expected ice to be on the road when it wasn't even the end of August yet. Elsa vowed to herself that she would never, ever make anything else complicated without drawing a blueprint of it first. This was an absolute disaster.

Parked in the bank's parking lot, Elsa just said, "Well, that was an…enlightening experience, I daresay." _And embarrassing and mortifying and cringeworthy…_

* * *

><p>In the bank, Elsa and Anna had issues trying to exchange their gold bars for U.S. currency because neither of them were carrying an ID with them.<p>

"Ma'am, I do apologize, but neither my sister nor I brought a form of identification with us. To be quite honest, we don't own one," Elsa tried to explain. "Will this suffice?" Elsa made a snowflake in her left hand and held it out to the teller.

The teller frowned. "What if there is another person besides Queen Elsa of Arendelle that can do that?"

Elsa slammed her palm on the counter in frustration. _Seriously?! _"Well, excuse me, but I am twenty-one years old, and never, EVER have I even _heard_ of someone besides myself with ice powers. And believe me, I have done a _lot_ of reading. Look, I have gold bars that I would like to exchange for U.S. currency. If you suspect they're counterfeit, why not inspect them for yourself? I assure you they are solid gold through and through. Not pyrite or something."

"The bank has to have a detailed record in its database of transactions this large, and we can't do that without the information off an ID."

"What is a database?" Elsa asked. _Frustrating, frustrating, frustrating. Why do I keep having to ask stupid questions? _"My sister and I could just tell you our information instead if that's all you need."

The teller gave her a puzzled look. "It's just a structured set of data held in a computer…And how does the bank know that you are saying the correct information without seeing an ID?"

"What's a computer?" Anna piped up.

"Don't bother answering that," Elsa told the teller. "I believe that's some sort of electronic device, correct?"

The teller nodded.

"So you're informing me that you want to put my sister's and my personal information on an electronic device and store it there. I don't think I like that. How do we know that someone won't break into the database thing and steal our information?" Elsa asked. She thought for a moment before adding, "The whole prospect sounds like an invasion of privacy."

"The bank has a lifetime guarantee that it will not give your information out to any third parties."

"And what if a thief breaks into the database?" Elsa pressed. "How do you prevent that from occurring?"

"Some bad person could steal somebody else's identity at that rate!" Anna exclaimed, realizing what Elsa was thinking.

"Wait, I have an ingenious solution. Proceed with the personal information questions, please." Elsa smirked slightly and waited for the first question.

"What are you going to do?" the teller asked.

"Answer your questions…_my_ way," Elsa replied. _I'm not giving all my sister's and my personal info to a stranger._

"How do I know you're telling the truth since you two don't have ID's?"

"I think it will be quite obvious if I am lying," Elsa quipped. "We can just do one right now…I will just combine both my sister's transaction and mine. That way you only need one set of information." She turned to Anna and added, "Don't worry-half the money is still yours. It'll just be simpler this way."

Anna immediately agreed. She knew Elsa must have some sort of plan or something.

* * *

><p>The teller pushed a form across the counter to Elsa, who immediately started looking it over. <em>Awesome, I think my idea will work.<em> She picked up the pen attached to the skinny chain on the counter (which Elsa thought was strange-who would steal a pen?). _Name: Queen Elsa of Arendelle. DOB: _"Excuse me, ma'am; what does 'DOB' stand for?"

"Date of birth…"

_DOB: 21 years ago. _She did _not_ want to put in the exact date. Elsa quickly filled out the form, putting 'N/A' for 'not applicable' every time that was a choice, whether it was technically true or not. The less concrete information she put down, the better. No, she was not part of the U.S. military. No, she did not have a driver's license. Yes, she was 21 years of age or older. _Which is a good thing or I wouldn't be able to do this at all,_ she thought when she read the next question, which said 'If you answered 'No' to the previous question, are your parents present to give permission and signature?' _They're dead…I wouldn't be able to get permission at all. Except…I don't think they'd give me permission to do this in the first place. _Elsa's mind went off on a tangent as she thought about what her parents might think if they knew where she was and what she was doing right now. _I don't know what Mom and Dad would think of me now. Would they be angry with me for using my powers in public? Or would they be proud of me that I finally learned how to control it? _The down-to-earth part of Elsa's mind figured that they would probably be disappointed in her for using her powers in public, but be at least a little pleased that she could control it now._ Okay, back to the present, Elsa. _

Elsa finished filling out the form, sans social security number since she did not have one. She carefully printed her name where she was supposed to give her signature, and then pushed the form back across the counter to the teller. "I'm done with it." _The only personal information they're getting is my name, that I'm 21, that I'm not in the U.S. military, and that I don't have a driver's license. If somebody wants to steal that info, I don't care, since I'm sure any random stranger could know those things._

The teller quickly read through Elsa's answers. "You didn't put in a social security number."

Elsa sighed. "I don't _have _a social security number. What is that anyway? It sounds like you're keeping track of human beings like a herd of animals."

The teller ignored Elsa's comment about what she thought of social security numbers. "And you were supposed to give your signature at the bottom, not just print your name again…"

"I'm actually right-handed…" Elsa blushed and gestured at her broken arm resting in its sling. _She probably just assumed I was left-handed and didn't follow the form instructions right… _"I can print with my left hand, but I can't do cursive or my usual signature…sorry."

"You filled out this whole form with your non-writing hand? It's awfully neat if that's the case…"

_Neat?! She thinks that's _neat_? I thought it was sloppy and looked like a little kid wrote it!_ Elsa wasn't sure what to say, so she said nothing.

"Well, can we trade our gold bars for money now?" Anna asked eagerly. "I can't wait to go buy my DC of 'Ready to Go'!"

"I think you mean 'CD'," the teller told her. "And yes…"

"Wait. How do we know that you're giving us a fair exchange?" Elsa asked. _The bank could cheat us and not give us enough U.S. currency in exchange and Anna and I wouldn't even know the difference._

"I think that you haven't much room to argue since technically, you are not supposed to be doing this at all without actual ID's."

Elsa pursed her lips in annoyance. "If that's the way it is then." _Boy, some people are so rude…_

The teller came back with a fat envelope of money.

Elsa said thank you, and turned to leave the bank, her sparkling cape trailing behind her. She ignored all the other people in line staring at her and Anna and held her head high as she strode out of that building. _Stupid bank. I never want to go in there again unless I really, really need to. All this for Anna's dumb CD…and I'll bet we need some sort of contraption to play it on, too. Great._

_**A/N****: I had fun picking on our modern world in this chapterXD My dad said you usually wouldn't trade gold bars for U.S. money at a bank, but it's my story, so I say they can.:P Anyway...**_

_**Next chapter coming soon!:)**_


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